Patient J (Joker)

Director and co-writer Aaron Schoenke delivers "Patient J", a half-hour long fan-film based on the infamous Batman adversary 'the Joker.' And it is a very decent fan-film for what it is, although it suffers from some major flaws, mainly due to the cheap production and some shaky acting.

Kurt Carley plays a psychologist whom has arranged to hold an interview with the deranged villain Joker (Paul Mathew Molnar) deep in Arkham Asylum. At first, the interview is very basic, as Joker explains his past and his various encounters with Batman, but as time passes, it becomes clear that both men have diabolical- and possibly deadly- ulterior motives.

The star of the film is the script by Aaron Schoenke, Sean Schoenke and David Hammond. It is very tight, very tense, and the dialog flows quite nicely. It is very natural and well-crafted and it was a lot of fun to watch.

The acting is pretty good. Molnar is alright as the Joker, although he isn't really a revelation- at times he seems very stiff and a bit forced. Carley is also adequate as the psychologist, but again, nothing special. And Kevin Porter as Batman is good, although the film doesn't really feature him too much, asides from a few action scenes where he yells and grunts, so we don't get a good gage of Porter's abilities. Rachel Nicole is a lot of fun as Harley Quinn.

The main problem with the film is the fairly poor visual direction and cheap production. The lighting is pretty poor and at times the color looks a little blown out, and the camera angles and editing are very amateur. It takes the film down a notch and is quite distracting. There wasn't much imagination with the visuals, which was a shame given the good script.

All-in-all, considering, this is a decent fan-film. It has a good script, but suffers from bad direction and editing. I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10. Check it out.