I've had an amazing experience watching the movie premiere in Venice, I've been waiting for this movie for a long time and I was not disappointed in the slightest.
It's a gorgeous movie, it's disturbing but moving at the same time, violent at times, but also subtle. It's a different and fresh spin on the character and on the cinecomic genre as a whole and Phoenix delivers an amazing performance portraying a version of the Joker we've never seen before, he's not the villain of someone else's story, he is the hero and villain of HIS own story, and the audience can be orrified by him, but we can't help but feel for him at times.
Without giving anything away I would recommend to go and see the movie not expecting to go and see an action packed, but gritty cinecomic, I suggest going in and watch it pretending that it's not even about a famous comic villain, but simply a movie, I think that people will appreciate it more in that way, not comparing it to the cinecomics we've seen before, but thinking of it as a normal movie.
P.S.: People will of course compare Phoenix to Ledger, I don't think it's possible, they give a totally different percormance because they portray totally different versions of the character, and I think it's going to be hard to compare them, you either prefere Ledger's version or Phoenix's but only based on the character, the actor's performances cannot be judged by comparison, they're both great. Just enjoy the movie
It's hard to make a review without spoilers, but I'll try.
First of all, I think this would have been much better if it were a miniseries and not a movie, Gilligan has a particular way to tell stories and I couldn't help but feel that he had to give up many ideas and many character and story developement points sticking with a two hour run time movie. It feels that way dueto the amount of screen time dedicated to flashbacks that add some information, but also create a somewhat unnecessary tension since we already know where it will go, at least who has seen the show. Gilligan stated that in his opinion you didn't have to have seen the show to appreciate the movie, and because of these flashbacks that push too much on the series, with little cameos and all, I don't think it's really true.
Another thing I couldn't wrap my mind around was the fact that the actors, of course, have aged and everytime I saw a young Jessee or Todd it would take me out of the movie, Todd particularly.
There are some really good parts, the first act and a few scenes that lead to the end, that I won't spoil.
I won't discuss the finale, which I liked, but I seriously wish it would have been a series, because it would make my critiques worthless, with more time dedicated to the run for safety and the flashback would have felt less for nostalgia's sake and more relevant.
NO SPOILERS (kind of)
With this movie Scorsese replies to everyone who has criticized him for glorifying criminals or violence, there is no glorification in this movie, because the life it tells leads to no glory nor does it require heroism, and no matter what or how it always gets to you in the end.
The only things I'm gonna say, to not spoil anything is that I find it ridiculous that Netflix has opted for such a limited theatrical release, this movie is meant to be watched in a movie theater, not because of spectacle or anything, but because of it's atmosphere, it is not supposed to be watched on a small screen, on a phone, and (also due to it's run time) fractioned in separate viewings, it has to be experienced in theaters, it's the only way to make the last part of the film matter and not just something you want to get over with.
Performancewise Pacino is the one who shines in the movie as this nevrotically precise and stubborn character, De Niro is probably disavantaged because of the deaging cgi, which is really good, and by that I mean that you stop caring after the first scene (in which he looks almost too videogamy), ecxept when something phisical happens, in those scenes you can clearly see the movements of an elder Deniro with a younger face on it, but for the rest he gives a great performance too.
Last thing I'm gonna say the score is great, it might become the new version of the Godfather theme (maybe)
