Review of movie Joker by Chandler Wang

 I watched Joker with friends, and had zero intention of watching the movie by myself before I was invited. However, the movie drew me in and was incredibly gripping and well made. Joaquin Phoenix's acting is phenomenal, the great music score bolsters the film's already tense atmosphere, and the story is perfectly made and paced to suit the progress of the movie. Joker follows the story of Arthur Fleck, the man who would become the Joker, Batman's greatest enemy. Despite the blatant comic background, Joker plays out nothing like a traditional superhero movie. It's a detailed account on one man's descent into desperation and madness, carefully crafted so that he's almost the hero of the story. There's almost a sense of gratification when Fleck has had enough and lashes out, and it's a conflicting feeling. Phoenix portrays the character incredibly well, and a large part of the movie's gripping, dark tone lies in his disconcerting performance of an unstable man at a breaking point. Phoenix manages to play Fleck as mostly ordinary, but always with an unsettling undertone to his words and actions. His performance really sells the movie and validates its approach as the story of a single person. Joker was a masterfully made film and is my personal favorite movie. Everything in the movie came together to create an enthralling experience and I cannot think of a single flaw that I noticed in the film. 10/10.