‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Review – A Cinematic Dick Punch To A Billion Dollar Audience
I sincerely hope those of you reading this review don’t ever hate yourself as much as Todd Phillips and the creative minds behind Joker hate the character that they’ve brought to life.
The last great year for films was 2019, and one of the movies that solidified this fact was Joker.
Joaquin Phoenix played the character of Arthur Fleck, a poor stand-up comedian whose life was so miserable that the only two things that could put a smile on his face were his mother and his love for late-night comedy – that was, until one bad night pushed him in the direction of infamy and changed the future for Gotham.
Phoenix was so great at bringing the iconic comic book character to life that his performance not only won him an Academy Award, but also drew comparisons to Heath Ledger’s similarly Academy Awarding winning portrayal of the villain in The Dark Knight.
Made on a simple $70 million dollar production budget, Joker was such a success that it event grossed over a billion dollars at the global box office – to the point where both itself and the controversy surrounding its contents could not be ignored.
That controversy centered on the fact that the media doesn’t believe you can sympathize with someone’s journey into bad behavior while understanding that said behavior is still bad (For example, people who have abused others have likely been abused themselves. This doesn’t justify their actions, but it makes you understand how a person could end up on such a dark path).
That was the theme of the film, but the media instead walked away from it reading it more as ‘if you think your life is hard, violence against society is justified’, in doing so whipping up such a panic about its potential influence on ‘incels’ that police officers were called to screenings of Joker out of fear that someone was going to commit an act of violence just because they saw the movie.
Of course, when none of that happened and the film went on to be a critical and commercial success, the mainstream media walked away from the entire fair with their narrative having taken a huge slap to the face.
So, how do they get their revenge on the fan-base that made them look so foolish? Go all-in on supporting the production of a sequel film that nobody asked asked for, least of all as a musical starring Lady Gaga (who’s probably more evil in real life than the character that she’s portraying on screen).
All of the warning signs were there that something bad was going to happen with the sequel to the 2019 smash hit – and I regret to inform you that your fears about this sequel are nowhere near as bad as the actual production that is Joker: Folie à Deux.
Taking place immediately in the aftermath of the events of the first movie, Joker: Folie à Deux opens with Arthur Fleck on trial for multiple murders that he committed during his rampage.
The state is trying to decide whether Arthur Fleck believes he has become the alter ego called The Joker or if he committed these murders under while under the influence of his criminal psyche. As Arthur prepares for his trial he meets a young woman named Harleen (Gaga) who is infatuated with meeting the man that she saw on TV.
With the death penalty on the line, Arthur must use what little time he may or may not have left to decide what is important in his life.
There is no reason to sugarcoat it: This sequel is a deliberate punishment to those fans who made the first Joker a billion-dollar hit, as it takes a character that people identify with and murders him in a manner that feels more like a ritual sacrifice than a piece of entertainment.
I’m not kidding. It feels like the sole justification for creating Joker: Folie à Deux was to deconstruct and destroy a character that got over so well with audiences out of nothing more than spite – A $200 million ‘F.U.’ to fans.
Because the hyper-progressive Hollywood system hated the fact that, in their eyes, the film and its success were propping up a white male known for chaos and destruction as an aspirational hero, the sequel serves to course correct by rebuking viewers for making Joker a success.
After all, in the eyes of Hollywood, Joker was not about Batman’s greatest villain, but rather a white, right-wing, incel terrorist who was leading a movement in a way similar to Donald Trump.
To them, the bad guy of this story is the viewer for identifying with Arthur, as they’d rather believe this oppositional framing than point the finger at themselves for creating the media sensationalism that actually inspires mass shooters and the other acts of violence we see every day.
When you realize that the film is a statement against the viewers, at that point, nothing else matters.
Even as far as the story goes, there’s no rhyme or reason for this film to exist. When it ends, we’re left to deal with the aftermath of Arthur’s decisions, but all of it ultimately leads to nothing.
Lady Gaga serves no purpose in this movie and exists to further tear down the character. If you are a fan of the comic books, do not expect any accurate representation of the Joker-Harley relationship in this movie whatsoever. You’re not going to get it.
Hell, Todd Phillips even goes out of his way to explain to audiences that this version of Joker is not the character who is so iconic in comic books. This is a separate interpretation of the Clown Prince of Crime. There’s no introduction to Bruce Wayne, no rise to Criminal mischief for Arthur, and nothing to look forward to in the future. In other words, all the potential ways in which the film could have developed into a potential franchise down the line absolutely do not happen.
Instead, Joker: Folie à Deux systematically rapes and kills the character in front of the audience as a means to tell them ‘He’s dead now, he’s no longer your hero, you lose.’
When stripped down to its core, the motivations behind this movie ensure that it will go down in history as the worst sequel of all time.
It’s not just a bad movie, it is a movie that is hostile to its fan base. If you love the first movie, this film is only going to serve to not destroy what you loved but to make you feel a different type of way about the first movie – as intended by Phillips and his co-screenwriter Scott Silver.
The only people who will find any enjoyment in this movie are those who hated the first film to begin with.
If you like the first movie, stay away from this one, as Joker: Folie à Deux is a cinematic punch in the dick to everyone who contributed to the original’s success.
Joker: Folie à Deux
PROS
- Joaquin Phoenix
CONS
- Destroy A Great Character Study
- A Massive FU To Fans Of The 1st Movie
- Deconstructs & Destroys A Great Film
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