I’m only gonna say this once

As always, I tried my best to keep away from all the pre-release chatter on Joker Folie á Deux – (heretofor to be called Joker 2, because I’m not typing that anymore). It was an impossible goal unless I removed myself to a deserted island and then broke the radio. Stoopid radio…

This is why you NEED the Average Dude 2.0

But since I can’t do that, I unfortunately heard whispers – then shouts – of just how bad Joker 2 was. Some lamented that it was a musical (which was a bold choice, admittedly). Others said that director Todd Phillips was forced to do this film that he didn’t want to make, so he purposefully sabotaged it. Even with the astonishing level of entitlement that Hollywood exhibits daily, I’m not buying that one.
Then, there are others who are saying that Phillips made Joker 2 as a woke message to the masses. In making Arthur Fleck a weak and whiny wimp, it somehow struck a massive blow to toxic masculinity. After watching Joker 2, there’s a certain believability to that theory.

Like wearing a coat into the sauna

Joker 2 was a slow burn, for sure. Not Oppenheimer slow, but it did have you constantly looking forward to the payoff. And there was a payoff, but you ain’t gonna like it.

Joker 2 picks up with Arthur back in Arkham Asylum, just another sad psycho who suffers humiliation after humiliation from the guards, telling jokes for smokes. Outside the walls, the fans of the chaos that his Joker persona represents, are amassing for Fleck’s highly public trial. Slow burn.

Joker is gaga for…well…you know

Love is a strange thing. Unpredictable. Powerful. Able to leap tall buildings…wait, wrong DC property. But you get my point. And apparently in Arkham, where male-female interactions should be strictly and completely verbotten, love is in the air (along with the overpowering scent of industrial strength cleaners). Arthur is given the privilege of joining a co-ed sing-along therapy group where he strikes up a romance with Lee Quinzel…the future Harley Quin. Sure. Mass murderers are often given the chance to engage in group rehabilitation before their high-profile trials. Anyway, you can pretty much predict the rest of the movie from here.

Cut to the chase

Joker 2 contained some really great performances. Joaquin Phoenix, who won Best Actor Oscar in 2020 for the same role, gave another fantastic performance as the broken, pathetic yet morally vacant Arthur Fleck. I wouldn’t expect any nominations this time, though. I thought Lady Gaga did a decent job. Brenden Gleeson always turns in a good performance. I can’t really fault the acting for the mess that is Joker 2.

No, the fault here is absolutely the horrendous story. Clearly, it was the intent of the producers, the writers and the director to make the Joker an easily manipulated pawn of Harley…just a tool for her to wield enroute to her own self-aggrandizement. And that is 100% NOT what the Joker of cannon was. Absent are the driving will, the evil genius and unstopable force of chaos that made him the equal but opposite of the Dark Knight himself. Making Joker this pitiable wet noodle diminishes them both.

And yes, I caught and understood the last few seconds of the movie and how they try to avoid the utter destruction of the core DC universe of which this movie claims to NOT be a part of. It does almost nothing to ease the pain of knowing that, with Joker 2, the joke is most definitely on all of us. The ending could have saved this movie, giving Arthur a redemption moment. Actually, at any point in the last reel, Joker could have claimed that redemption.

But no, we were all denied that dark satisfaction. As a movie lover, Phillips has lost me. The crime is unforgiveable. I’m giving Joker 2 a pathetic 2.2 and I will do my best to forget the whole thing.

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