While Joaquin Phoenix and the entire cast does a great job, it's really a downer of a movie. I appreciate how it's not really an origin story, but it's more of a hard breaking tale of mental illness.
With this movie attempting to be grounded in reality and not being your typical fantasy adventure, I would be remiss to mention the uneasiness I felt during the film. With the real world threats of violence and a police officer posted near the employees taking the tickets, I don't know if most of my dread was generated by the movie or a possible looming outside incident. I was just hyper aware of my surroundings while trying to get lost in the film so I found it a little difficult to do so.
While the movie was dark in tone and you really didn't know what was going to happen next, quite frankly, I kind of expected the movie to be a little bit more fucked up. While there are some truly violent scenes that happen to the main character, I wanted to sympathize with him more and then I really wanted to see him let loose. Maybe a more unleashed Joker would befit a sequel.
The last half of the movie does crescendo to a point where you it feels both satisfying and heartbreaking. The final few minutes take the viewer to a place that may generate a lot of discussion as it's up to interpretation and semi open ended on the journey that just took place.
I definitely look forward to watching this again in the comfort of my own home in the future. Right now, I will say that I give a slight edge to Heath Ledger's Joker performance.
