Joker is an origin film for the Batman villain but it isn't your stereotypical superhero film. Instead, it is a darker and more subdued take on the genre, being more thought provoking and surprisingly, a more sympathetic look at the character. Before this film, Joker was mostly portrayed as a maniac but here, before he became the Joker, Arthur is a mentally ill person looking for help, and trying to survive in the harsh society. At the beginning of the film, you even have hope for the character. He is ill but he is getting help (however flawed that help may be), he has a job and he at least recognizes that he has an issue. Over the course of the film, through events that are sometimes out of his control, sometimes not, he descends bit by bit into madness. Arthur has a condition where he gets into fits of laughter for no reason, and society misunderstands and punishes him for it. While the pacing is steady, it grips you in how Arthur slowly gets into the state of mind and slowly turns into the character of Joker that we are familiar with. The link to Batman only comes into play towards the end and at that, it is a fairly quick link since it is not the focus. The film takes place many years before Batman makes his first appearance. Joaquin Phoenix, the actor of Arthur / Joker, did a phenomenal job. The scariest part comes at the finale where Arthur finally snaps and lashes out, with a memorable rant / justification and action.
