Earlier this week, Joker became the highest-grossing rated R movie of all time, topping Deadpool. I had the opportunity to watch it last week, and the movie was beautiful.

Joaquin Phoenix nailed the performance. There isn’t a second in the film you don’t think Arthur Fleck is in any way stable.

The film continually makes you wonder, “Is this his breaking point?”

And when Arthur does become The Joker, the movie becomes an absolute must-see. You cannot look away, just as the late-Heath Ledger did in his appearance in The Dark Knight.

Without Joaquin Phoenix, this movie wouldn’t be nearly as good. It would be as unemotional and bland as every other DC movie since The Dark Knight Rises, because, as good as the movie is, the plot is quite generic.

It’s a Joker version of King of Comedy, and everything, excluding Phoenix’s performance, is very basic and insignificant. Thankfully, there are almost no such scenes.

There was a bold decision to not include Batman in the movie, but it was reportedly never on the producers’ minds. The plan was to make a movie, with a big budget, about a mentally unstable person and to call it Joker, in hopes of receiving recognition.

There’s no way this movie gets to #1 rated R movie under the name of “Arthur Fleck,” even though Arthur is in the movie more than Joker.

The plot does somewhat follow the iconic “Killing Joke” story, but there’s no falling into a chemical pit, and there’s somewhat remnants of “one bad day” especially with the line, “I had a bad day.”

But this isn’t a superhuman film; it’s a human film.

A mentally unstable, stone cold killer, clown human film, but a human film nonetheless.

As previously said, the end of the movie is a must watch. Not to go into detail of the end to stay spoiler free, but everything seems to lead into the ending.

Every character has a backstory, a motive, and The Joker is as unpredictable as ever (unless you had it spoiled, thanks Instagram), making you wonder if it’s The Joker or Arthur Fleck, human or clown.

The stair sequence from the trailers is better than any trailer could show. Well awaited.

If you haven’t watched this movie yet, watch it. It’s a must see movie, it’s controversial, and Joaquin Phoenix’s performance is a once in a lifetime showing.

If I were to give you any advice before you watch it, it would be to not watch it as a Joker movie; watch it as a Joaquin Phoenix movie. Because unlike Heath Ledger, Phoenix isn’t playing as the Joker, and that’s the best part.