This article contains spoilers for Joker: Folie A Deux
Summary
One of the biggest film surprises of the year is the reception ofJoker: Folie à Deux. At the beginning of the year, it was one of the most anticipated films of the year. Lady Gaga seemed like an inspired casting choice for the movie’s version of Harley Quinn. Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of Arthur Fleck from the original Joker was so well-received, it earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor.Jokerwas always an odd duck for its unique approach toJoker,the Batman villain, as well as for its critical praise. The hope was to replicate that success of the intended stand-alone film with a sequel. Although always a gamble, fans were intrigued about what more could be said about continuation. However, this time, Warner Bros. lost the gamble asJoker: Folie à Deuxhas not just been panned by critics and fans, but is aresounding box office bomb.
How could this have happened? Part of the response comes from the disjointed feeling of the film. Half has Arthur Fleck in Arkham, while the other half is a courtroom drama and neither meld particularly well.Gaga, while terrific, is underutilized despite being advertised as more of an active player in the film.Lee is also different from the traditional Harley, being more of a privledged loony fan in disguise rather than the traditional corrupted psychologist. The musical fantasy sequences don’t flow particularly within the narrative of the film, nor does director Todd Phillips ever seem comfortable shooting them. However, all that pales in comparison to the most talked about part of the film, which is its ending. Spoilers ahead.
Arthur Fleck is the Inspiration for the Real Joker
Joker: Folie à Deuxis largely a film about identity in relation to public perception. Arthur’s lawyer, Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener), has crafted her defense on the basis that Arthur has dissociative identity disorder or DID. Arthur is innocent, but Joker is guilty of the murders from the previous film. Gaga’s Lee meets Arthur in musical therapy and tries to manipulate him to embrace the Joker persona. However, Arthur ultimately concedes that the Joker is not separate from him, but denounces the persona. Lee, who had only been a fan of what she perceived Joker to be and as seen in the unauthorized made for TV movie depicting his crimes, rebuffs the real Arthur. In the ultimate loss of Arthur’s identity,he is killed by a fellow Arkham inmateat the end of the film. This inmate not only erases the last of Arthur but also proceeds to carve a smile into his face, implying that he will take over the Joker identity and is that universe’s true version of the Batman villain.
The Joker Timeline Has Always Been Confused
So what exactly does that imply? Well, in the firstJokerfilm, Arthur’s Joker was heavily tied to the Waynes. Thomas Wayne represents establishment and privilege in stark contrast to Arthur’s misery and poverty. He briefly believes that he’s Thomas’s illegitimate son, before having that debunked and breaking the delusion of possible privilege. In the end, a violent breakdown on national television inspires a riot and one of the rioterskills Bruce’s parents, a violent act that is the typical catalyst for Batman’s origin story. However, the Joker inspiring the death of the Waynes and Bruce’s young age at the time of the first film always came off as a bit confusing.
Additionally, inJoker: Folie à Deux,Harvey Dent is also significantly older than Bruce and gets his face damaged when a bomb goes off in the courtroom,setting up his transition into Two-Face. With the reveal of the new Joker at the end of the film, there’s the set-up for two of Batman’s greatest villains, but Bruce himself is still too young to face them. While the villains are properly introduced, there’s not enough of a heroic presence to make audiences interested in seeing more. However, given the poor reception of this most recent venture, its unlikely that this will be rectified in a future installment.
If there’s one thing to be said about Todd Phillips, it’s that he has a take on theJoker. Although that take was well-received with the first film, which examined the ways in which society casts marginalized individuals aside to the point where the only way they feel that they can regain a sense of power is to transform themselves into violent villains, the second is more interested in how sustainable that persona is and what its consequences are. While that is an intriguing thought in theory, Phillips’s execution leaves much to be desired. Additionally, the focus on social commentary comes at the cost of whatJoker: Folie à Deuxwas always was at is core,an entry into Batman canon. As a result, the plot is lost and the elements that could have moved the story forward and expanded the world are short changed.
