This was a fantastic movie; while this Joker's origins aren't quite as "believable" as Mark Hamill's version from Killing Joke, it's still very creepy. I daresay I found Phoenix's version of the Joker to be better than Heath Ledger's (rest his soul.) One thing I took away from this is how much it pains me that society tends to mistreat those who are mentally ill.
As someone who has lived with Hydrocephalus for almost 34 years, I know how that pain feels. In any case, this was a great movie. Even though it wasn't much of a comic film, I will agree that it's a great character study piece and hope we'll get more of such comic based character films under that category. Imagine the idea of a Mr.Freeze movie that was like this or one on Scarecrow, Clayface or even The Mad Hatter?
Think about it, Hollywood