azgreg
Well, it does attempt to paint the picture of how an abused, isolated kid who everyone saw as stupid and unimportant would become one of the most sinister people in the history of Gotham! It's a lot easier to develop point A to point B with darkness and doom rather than detouring through a normal childhood and college partying to being one of the most infamous villains in all of history! lol...
I've never been a huge fan of Joaquin Phoenix but I don't think they could've picked a more fitting actor to play that role, and to do so as superbly as he did. To me, it had a little of the same darkness and shock value as DeNiro in Taxi Driver. That is one freaky production, albeit typical of Scorsese flicks.