Joker proves to be a delicately balanced drama that revolves around one of the most famous super villains of all time in the Joker. Revolving around Arthur Fleck, Arthur is just a failing comedian that has everything in his life slowly crumble apart. Arthur has a special condition that causes him to laugh at unexpected moments, and this includes laughing when he might emotionally feel differently. However, his laughter often comes at the worst times, often destroying Arthur's mental state in the process. All Arthur wants in the world is to spread joy and laughter as a comedian, but as he travels through the dangerous streets of Gotham City, it becomes clear that Arthur will always remain alone amongst the crowd. As Arthur forces himself to wear a mask so that he can pretend to be happy throughout life, even those attempts slowly become futile as everyone in Arthur's life seems to turn against him. Arthur struggles to continue his job as a clown during the day, going to various venues to try to spread happiness, but that too slowly falls apart. Fleck also wears a mask when he's not working, often going to a therapist for psychological help and medications to help him feel better, and in the process, Fleck continues to try to fit in with the society that surrounds him. However, as the city of Gotham continues to mistreat its lower socioeconomic classes even harsher, Arthur finds himself becoming further unhappy with the steady destruction of his entire life. Bullied, beaten, and completely attacked by all manners of society, including those that he thought would be closest to him, Arthur Fleck feels as if know one in the entire world cares about him. Feeling completely disregarded and isolated by all that he knows, Arthur Fleck quickly finds himself descending into a world of pure insanity and madness. As Arthur's mental state further deteriorates, he steadily transforms into the truly dangerous and psychotic criminal mastermind that is the Joker. 
 Joker proves to be an unexpectedly brutal and ferociously psychological dive into the life of Arthur Fleck, and subsequently how he became the Joker. Arthur Fleck starts off innocent enough as character, but as the entire world around him quite literally falls apart, Arthur has no choice but to descend into the chaotic mayhem that has become a staple of the Joker's mindset. In fact, as violently exuberant and flamboyant the Joker can be, at the heart of all of his senseless and gritty violence is a compelling character that is completely bruised and broken on the inside. Joker is by no means someone that should be rooted for, and is an incredibly difficult character to like in many ways, but this doesn't prevent Arthur Fleck from transforming into a surprisingly captivating protagonist that forces audiences to feel his excruciating level of pain. Deliberately shallow and deep at the same time, the movie doesn't necessarily solely focus on Arthur's interactions with others but rather includes elaborations on his mental state. This allows the true psychological mindset of Arthur to become revealed, and although the movie doesn't try to glorify his life, there is certainly a well-composed rationale created for the Joker's actions, at least from his own perspective. 
 Joker becomes such a unique character story because of its brilliantly sophisticated lead character. Joker is a psychologically complex person in general, and due to his delusions and poor mental state, audiences often struggle to decipher what's actually real and what's not. This not only ensures that the film becomes unpredictable and unexpected, but it also places viewers into Arthur Fleck's shoes, seeing the world as he does. Indescribably dark, the movie derives out of Arthur Fleck's life a chilling and occasionally disturbing origin story for the ages. When it seems that the film can't go any more serious or dark, it finds a way to do precisely that. This creates a film that is undeniably well-crafted, and as crazy as it sounds, and as only a Joker movie could execute, the movie's continuation of becoming darker and darker actually ties up loose ends to create a surprisingly well-composed and concise story. 
 Joker is a superbly devised psychological thriller that uses its especially dark themes and tropes to bring the Joker into the real world. Arthur Fleck becomes so much more than just a mere comic book character or comic-villain, and through the infusion of realistic and relatable troubles, the movie becomes more committed to demonstrating how one person can just slowly fall apart as everything goes wrong. The movie shows how just a few weeks time can change someone's life so, and this allows the film to become more about the issues of the real world than fighting superheroes and crusades. In fact, this perfectly correlates with the Joker's entire perspective on the matter as well. Arthur Fleck doesn't become the Joker to make a political statement or to go on a vendetta as a crusader for the poor, but instead it is more of a matter of revenge and punishing those that have hurt him. Led by a spectacular and legendary performance from Joaquin Phoenix, a practically and genuinely perfect performance is given. Providing an entirely new look on the character of the Joker himself, Phoenix gives everything there is to give in his role and then some. Joaquin Phoenix is able to pour his heart and passion into the role every step of the way, steadily transforming into the chaotic menace just as the character does. Joaquin impressively brings out the best in Arthur Fleck's mental and emotional state, and he shows a character that is insane in a very clear manner. This version of the Joker is definitely compelling as a character, and despite all of his flaws, Joaquin Phoenix is still able to make Arthur Fleck likable. Phoenix brings out the raw insanity and intensity of Arthur's deadly hostility, but beyond the thick of sharp violence, there lies a complicated character that is nothing more than just a result of a dark evolution into embracing insanity. 
 Joker is an intricate and stylistic journey towards the horrors of the dangers of the Joker searching for his identity and demolishing everything he knows in the process. Explosively dramatic and full of surprises, audiences have no idea what's in-store for them as the movie honors one of the greatest villains of all time. The film is so dark and gritty it sometimes becomes easy to miss sight of how astoundingly painful certain moments should be, and the real beauty of the movie is the way in which it can make audiences truly think in a thought-provoking and riveting manner. With aid from Joaquin Phoenix's uncanny performance as the protagonist, as well as the Joker's greatest enemy in himself, the movie is able to craft together a masterpiece that shows that one of the greatest versions of the Joker doesn't even need Batman. It might be phenomenally dark and depressing, but it's equally phenomenal in its totality as well. By the end of the movie, it's easy to see why the Joker gets the last laugh.