Joker

I saw this today. I thought it was good, not great. Like most if not all movies using comic book or superhero source material, it suffers from being a little too linear or simplistic in its storytelling. For example, the rioting in Gotham used as a backdrop as the movie approached its climax. Why were people rioting? IDK if Deux Ex Machina is the term I'm looking for but it just seemed to be a cheap storytelling tool to serve the movie. It wasn't very intelligently written IMO and I can see why people may take issue with its portrayal of mental illness. Some of the grittier scenes seemed to be there for shock value lessening their effectiveness. Great performance by Joaquin Phoenix, but I got the impression that's what the movie was ultimately hanging its hat on. Knowing Todd Phillips involvement, I went in expecting pretty simplistic and generic writing. Also, what's up with Phillips statement that it's open-ended as to whether Arthur Fleck is the Joker from Batman mythology? Of course he is. They retconned things so that it was him who killed Batman's parents and not run-of-the-mill hoodlums. Of course it's him!

I invoke my right under the 5th amendment of the United States constitution and decline to answer the question.