Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Steve Coogan, and Zazie Beetz with a small role from Tim Dillon
Grade: A-

There are a lot of metaphors in Joker: Folie à Deux but none are more in-your-face than when Arthur is taken back in the middle of his trial to beaten by guards he talked shit about during his trial. As they aggressively grab him and take him to a private room, he laughs while asking, “Why is everyone so upset with me?”.

This is director Todd Phillips in a nutshell.

Summary

In an animated sequence in the vein of a Looney Tunes short, the cartoon version of Joker stars in “Me and My Shadow”. In it, the proud Joker exits a limousine to an adoring crowd of Joker fans who are wearing clown masks and the like before he gets into the studio for his appearance on Live With Murray Franklin. While he walks, he has to stop for a moment because his shadow wants to separate from his body until Joker notices and forces it back into place. Next, he’s in the makeup chair by himself and his shadow attacks him. It puts on makeup as well before getting into another fight with Joker and locking him in the closet. The shadow version of Joker is now dressed as him and has the makeup on. With this, he exits the room to go the stage. On the way, he kisses some girl and attacks a guy. By the time the shadow version of Joker is on stage and singing, the real Joker breaks out of the dresser and shows up onstage in his underwear. The shadow version of Joker pulls Joker close to him. When Joker tries to add to the song, he’s given dynamite instead of the microphone. As it explodes and knocks him loopy, the cops show up. The shadow Joker dances with the loopy Joker and allows him to join in on the singing. At this point, Joker takes over the microphone and the shadow Joker gives all his clothes back to him as the cops show up. Joker is then beaten bloody by the cops to end the short.

Now, we get to the movie. It takes place two years after the events of Joker.

At the Arkham State Hospital, the guards wake up all the patients from their cells and have them wait outside their doors with their chamber pots. One guard asks Arthur Fleck/Joker (Phoenix) if he has a joke for him today, but he doesn’t respond. He dumps his pot in a sink while guard Jackie Sullivan (Gleeson) reminds Arthur he has a big day today and he should put on a happy face. Arthur puts on his clothes and gets ready to meet with his lawyer Maryanne Stewart (Keener), while Jackie tells him to hurry up and another guard asks him if he has a joke to tell today. Again, Arthur doesn’t respond. Jackie takes Arthur to the front of the line for the nurse, and she gives him pills to take on the spot. Behind him, an inmate tries to stop Jackie from cutting, so guard Moran stops the guy only to be bitten by him, causing a scuffle. After Arthur opens his mouth for another guard to confirm he swallowed the pills, he’s taken to get shaved. The guards discuss Moran getting bitten, and Jackie admits nobody likes Moran. He was at Gotham State Prison for eight years before he got there. As the guy shaves Arthur, he asks if he has a joke for them today, but he doesn’t respond again. As the guy accidentally cuts Arthur with the blade, Jackie tells a joke of his own about a Catholic priest refusing to perform a funeral service for a dead dog until the owner offers $2000 to which he responds, “Why didn’t you tell me the dog was Catholic?”. Actually, it was a decent joke in his defense. Once the guards leave to allow Arthur to clean himself off, blood pours down from his mouth and it looks like a deep frown.

The guards take Arthur outside in the rain and into the B Ward, the minimum-security wing. Naturally, all the guards have umbrellas and Arthur doesn’t. As they walk him through the B Ward, they talk about how this could have been where he stayed had he not killed five people including one on national television, meaning Murray Franklin. They pass by a classroom where a bunch of patients are singing as part of a recreation thing, and one particular patient (Gaga) shares eye contact with Arthur as they walk by. She quickly jumps out the room to get Arthur’s attention, so he stops. Then, she points her hand to her head with the gun gesture he did in Joker. Before he could react, the guards push him away. She smiles as they do. They turn the corner and run into Arthur’s lawyer Maryanne who is waiting for him. She immediately gives the guards shit for not covering Arthur with an umbrella, but they jokingly act like it would be dangerous to do so. She puts her coat over Arthur and sits him down to talk privately about what’s going to happen. Today, they’re meeting with Dr. Beatty (June Carryl). She’s going to be videotaping the appointment, so she can show it at Arthur’s competency hearing next week. If they find that Arthur is competent, which is very likely, they will be going to trial. Maryanne knows Arthur needs to be in an actual hospital with actual doctors, not the prison-like atmosphere he’s currently in. She relays that Dr. Beatty thinks that with everything that happened in Arthur’s childhood, it caused a split, a fragmentation in him to help him cope with his pain. Basically, she believes Arthur has another person living inside of him, and it was the other person that committed those crimes.

At the recorded meeting with Beatty, she explains she’s not only here for Arthur’s defense, but she’s here for him too. For her to do her job, she wants him to be candid with her. When she asks if that makes sense, he asks for a cigarette. For the record, this is the first thing he says in the movie, which I think is a fun little note. Anyway, Beatty asks about the triple subway murders from Joker, if it felt like they triggered something painful from his past or childhood, if he remembered anything at all, or if he blacked out and saw lights. He thinks about it but doesn’t say anything. She asks about Murray Franklin and what he remembers about that night. Right away, Arthur closes his eyes and reopens them to say he remembers the music. Beatty goes on about how she recalls him coming out as Joker and how he danced to the music. Arthur talks about how he liked Murray’s band and how his mother and him used to watch the show together. He imitates his mother’s voice to show how much she liked Murray Franklin. It comes off as creepy as you’d imagine, as it’s reminiscent to him doing the same voice during his stand-up performance in the first Joker. Beatty asks if he hears his mother’s voice in his head, and Arthur admits he does all the time. When she asks if the Joker side of his personality came out more after she died, he doesn’t respond. However, Beatty presses further and asks to speak to Joker. Back at Arkham State Hospital, the patients are all in the yard during their recreation period and Arthur is in a crouched position by himself next to the fence. The guards send over an inmate named Ricky (Jacob Lofland) to ask Arthur to kiss him because he’s never been kissed before, as the guards think he’s going to attack Ricky. However, Arthur kisses him on the lips with a deadened expression and walks over to the guards to ask for a cigarette. They oblige. The other guard doesn’t think he should get it unless he tells a joke, but Jackie is cool with it because Arthur still makes them laugh.

Jackie tells Arthur he got him into the music class at B Ward because he’s been good and deserves it. They’ll go next week. Arthur will get some good press for it, and Jackie will come along. It wasn’t that hard of a favor either because the TV movie that was made about Arthur has maintained his public persona as a star. Sometime after, Arthur wakes up just ahead of the guards waking everyone else up. He’s noticeably happier since today will be the first day of music class. Jackie notices Arthur’s change in mood too. They go to class, and the teacher stops mid-song to introduce Arthur to everyone. They all know who he is, but he explains how Arthur has been a model patient without any incidents. Addressing Arthur directly, the teacher talks about how they use music to make themselves feel whole, “to balance the conflicting forces, the fractures within ourselves”. All he wants Arthur to do is sing if or when he’s ready to sing. Jackie places Arthur right next to the patient that got his attention from the get-go, Harley “Lee” Quinzel (Gaga). During an intermission period, Lee sits on the windowsill in the hallway and gets Arthur’s attention. Since Jackie is occupied singing some songs with the piano guy, Arthur walks over to meet her. She asks what he’s doing here, and Arthur minces no words in explaining his crimes. Lee talks about how she set fire to her parents’ apartment building. Leaning in, Arthur admits he actually killed six people because he killed his mother, but nobody knows this. Lee smiles and talks about how she should have done the same thing because her mother had her committed, referring to Lee as “psychotic”. Moving along, Lee tells Arthur she watched the TV movie they made about him like 20 times. Arthur asks if it was good because they won’t let him watch it, and she confirms it. Lee relates a lot to Arthur’s story. She grew up in the same neighborhood, took the same staircase to school every day, her parents didn’t care about her either, and her father beat the shit out of her.

Lee repeats his knock-knock joke from Joker but changes the punchline to her dad being killed in a car accident, and Arthur laughs. He tries to stop himself and says it isn’t funny, but he can’t help but smile, which gets a smile out of her. Lee reminisces about when she saw Joker on Murray Franklin, and she remembered thinking to herself that she hoped he would blow Murray’s brains out. When he did, she didn’t feel alone for the first time in her life. Arthur smiles after seeing how much of a difference he made on her life. The two sing “Get Happy” before Jackie calls Arthur back over. He walks to Jackie but looks back at Lee and smiles, and she responds in kind. Jackie walks Arthur back to his cell. On the way there, Arthur stops to tell him a joke. He says the one regret he had about being on Murray Franklin was that he didn’t shoot first and let him ask questions later. Jackie laughs and gives him a cigarette. Arthur thanks him and slaps him on the back, prompting Jackie to slap the back of his head and walk him over to get his medication. On the television, Assistant DA Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) argues at a press event that Arthur pleading not guilty by reason of insanity makes no sense because he murdered five innocent people. He then goes on about Arthur’s followers across the country and how they are willing to commit acts of violence in his name. Arthur and Jackie stop by the TV to view it as all the other prisoners watch. One guard reveals to Arthur he has been deemed competent to stand trial. Dent goes on about how Arthur’s followers think he’s a martyr, but he calls him a monster who knew exactly what he was doing. Because of this, their office will be seeking the death penalty. The prisoners and guards watching the speech all talk trash to Arthur as he hears this. In his head, he sings “For Once in My Life” while dancing around them but breaks out of it once Ricky asks him to answer the guard’s question of if he’s scared. It cuts to Arthur handcuffed to the fence outside in the rain, and he just starts manically laughing to himself.

Arthur is on the phone with Maryanne, and she is adamant that he cannot make any statements to the press, even if Kellerman asked. He argues that they all want to talk to him, but she assures him she set up an exclusive interview next month for him right before trial. He brings up Kellerman wanting him to make a statement and how he’s letting Arthur go see 1953’s The Band Wagon tonight, but the conversation is cut short by Jackie who doesn’t want to miss the beginning of the movie. Before they go, a security guard (Dillon) has Arthur autograph his book about the killing of Murray Franklin, The Night the Laughter Died: The Last Days of Murray Franklin. Arthur obliges but he overhears the guard loudly whisper how much the book will be worth after he’s dead. Arthur looks over at the guard, crosses out “Put on a hap-” and writes in the book instead, “I hope you get cancer”. He even punctuates it with a smiley face. At the movie, Arthur sits with Lee who wants to get out of there. Arthur knows they’ll shoot him if he tries. Lee considers holding his hand but decides against it. Next, she gets up from her seat, prompting Arthur to tell her she’s going to miss the upcoming song. Even so, Lee goes to the back of the theater without being noticed somehow, lights up an entire matchbox, throws it in the piano with some music sheets, and walks back to her seat. Soon after, the fire gets massive, and everyone panics and runs out of the room. In the midst of the chaos, Arthur and Lee kiss and run in a different direction from everyone else. They go outside to escape while Lee sings “If My Friends Could See Me Now”. They dance together as cops circle the place. They get right up to the gate and climb halfway up the fence, but they stop there and just seem to enjoy themselves before being caught and dragged back. Arthur laughs all the way back inside as he’s thrown down a staircase and dragged to the “hole” to spend two weeks as punishment by Jackie. After an imagining of Arthur in his Joker getup ballroom dancing with Lee on a stage made to look like the roof of a building, he wakes up with Lee inside of his cell.

Apparently, one of the guards let her in. She talks about how they’re sending her home because Arthur is being a bad influence on her. He’s heartbroken, but Lee sees it as a positive because she can be there for every day of his trial and see him every day until he gets out. Then, “We’re gonna build a mountain”. He kisses her, but she stops him. Wanting to see the “real” Arthur, she puts the Joker makeup on him sans the white face, and they start making out right after. In the middle of it, she tells him to stop taking his medication, but he assures her that he already has. Following this, they have sex. Later, Arthur is with Maryanne, and they discuss what will be talked about in his interview. Maryanne hopes it will be about life in the Arkham State Hospital, what the conditions are really like in there, and he might ask about Lee because Lee has been out there giving a lot of interviews about Arthur and herself. Arthur is happy to hear this. He even tells Maryanne that he loves Lee because she gets him. It’s now two minutes before the interview, so Maryanne stresses that this is Arthur’s chance to show a different side of himself so the public can see who he really is. Because of this, she doesn’t think he should smoke as it makes him look “cavalier”. They need to use this time to show people he’s human, he was sick and delusional, he’s not Joker, and that he’s Arthur Fleck. Arthur agrees, stomps out his cigarette, and kisses Maryanne. She’s startled and asks if he’s okay because it’s not too late to cancel, but the interview goes on. TV personality Paddy Meyers (Coogan) sits down with Arthur, lights up a cigarette, and asks right away what he should call him. Maryanne interrupts to remind him of the agreement that he can’t refer to him as Joker, just Arthur Fleck. With this, Paddy tells her she has to leave the room for the interview, though he allows her to watch from behind the glass window. Before she leaves, she tells Arthur to be himself.

Paddy begins his interview with a quick introduction talking about Arthur being a part-time party clown and struggling stand-up comic, which garners a noticeably negative expression from Arthur, before talking about the five murders he committed in the span of four weeks. His upcoming trial will be one of the first ever to be broadcast live on television. This interview is his first since the one with Murray Franklin. As he talks about Arthur, he calls him “The Joker” as well. When Paddy says “We all know how that turned out” regarding Arthur’s appearance on Murray Franklin, Arthur laughs a little bit but covers it up by clearing his throat. Paddy first wants to know what was going on in Arthur’s head that night when he shot Murray. Arthur talks about how much he was going through at the time, how he doesn’t remember much from that night, how he blacked out and saw bright lights, and how he was having a hard time knowing the difference between what was real and what wasn’t. Paddy doesn’t buy it because it doesn’t get much more real than live TV, but Arthur insists that all he could remember was that he was going to kill himself on television and Murray was going to play a part in his show, “but he was a bad actor”. When Paddy adds “so he got what he deserved”, Arthur noticeably holds back a laugh. Paddy talks about how his last “joke” wasn’t funny, Arthur agrees and says he should have told a better one. Paddy questions if he’s trying to be funny now, but Arthur says “No”. Next, Paddy flat-out asks if Arthur deserves to die since the DA is asking for the death penalty and his previous thoughts of suicide are well noted. Arthur argues that at the time, suicide seemed a lot easier than living, but that’s not who he is anymore. Paddy twists his words and adds on by saying, “That wasn’t really you”. He thinks Arthur’s defense is that the Joker did it, an insanity defense.

Arthur starts to get frustrated because this isn’t what he meant, but Paddy continues with his antagonistic questioning. He wants to know if he’s talking to Arthur or Joker right then and there. Finally, Arthur has enough. He knows Paddy doesn’t really care and categorizes him as another Murray. He just wants sensationalism like everyone else and wants to talk about his mistakes, but he doesn’t want to talk about how Arthur is different now. During his frustrating outburst, Maryanne wants the producer to take a break, but he refuses. Paddy calms things down by asking him what’s changed, so Arthur explains he’s not alone anymore. Paddy knows about Lee and refers to her as “The girl who was singing the night you tried to escape”. Arthur laughs and tries to tell him that they weren’t trying to escape, but he ignores Arthur and shows him a newspaper headline with the two of them on the front cover. Arthur loves it and sings “Bewitched” while reaching over and grabbing Paddy’s cigarette to smoke. Everyone is shocked. He gets up and kicks his chair away, singing directly to the cameras. Somewhere in the city, Lee watches Arthur sing to her from the multiple TVs in the window of a store, and she loves it. In the middle of the crowd, Lee tells everyone to move, throws a trash can through the window, and steals one of the smaller TVs that he’s on.

Today, the murder trial of Arthur Fleck begins. Harvey Dent is preparing his opening remarks, police will be on high alert, and they will block off streets and put up barricades for crowds that will more than likely reach into the thousands. Some are calling it “The Trial of the Century”. One thing is for sure, the people of Gotham won’t forget it, as having Joker in court is as chaotic as you’d imagine.

My Thoughts:

When looking at the gorgeously shot Joker: Folie à Deux in a much deeper context, it has the energy of a film made purely out of spite, so much so that the parallels cannot be ignored once they are realized. In one of the most polarizing films of the year, Todd Phillips comes back with a vengeance in this Joker sequel and two statements become clear as the credits roll. Its production values are top of the line, and the bold direction Phillips takes in finishing off the story of Arthur Fleck is unarguably one of the most artistically engrossing films of the year. On the other hand, Phillips seems to turn his back on DC by deciding on specific developments in the plot to completely circumvent fan expectations and to almost purposely incite frustration for those who loved the movie’s predecessor. As entertained as I was by the risky decisions made in this Joker sequel that make it such an underrated production as a whole, you can’t help but feel that the investment and anticipation wasn’t worth it once we come to realize that this two-film franchise is about Arthur Fleck. Apparently, it was never about Joker, despite being entitled “Joker”. Granted, the intention was for 2019’s Joker to be a standalone film, so the pivoting and the drastic changes in story directions regarding Joker: Folie à Deux was a result of a serious lack of foresight and everyone collectively agreeing that they can’t see the first movie’s success go to waste.

Though hindsight is 20/20, had the main character never been associated with DC or the Joker and was just some other crazy person (which I guess in a way he is), I guarantee Joker: Folie à Deux would have been praised as much as the first movie. However, in this hypothetical case where the franchise is called Arthur Fleck instead of Joker, then the first movie would have never got the attention and publicity it received. Critically, it would’ve been fine, but it would have zero chance of being the success at the box office that it was without the branding of the Joker. Really, it’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario. With the wickedly fascinating production of Folie à Deux, the elements are there to appease fans of the first movie, and DC fans in general, while satisfying Todd Phillips’s never-ending desire to be creative and courageous in his vision. Unfortunately, that mantra is maxed out to a fault, as Phillips and his team’s approach this go-around seemed like it was created as a gigantic “Fuck you” to everyone including Warner Bros. It wasn’t as outright as The Matrix Resurrections where Lana Wachowski was essentially guilt tripped to make it and wrote the screenplay with this in mind, as there was a vision from the beginning on what Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix wanted to do in a sequel. Nevertheless, the story gradually turns into this and becomes more and more noticeable with further analyzation and an ending that undoes everything the first film was about, with the protagonist rescinding the persona that made the public flock to the theater in the first place. Once again, this series has revealed that this is the story of Arthur Fleck, not the Joker. If anything, it’s differentiating itself by referring to him as “Joker” in both films while every other incarnation is referred to as “The Joker”, subtly showing us how he was never that “Clown Prince of Crime” but maybe the guy who laid the groundwork. If this is true though, isn’t that disappointing?

Wait, did they just trick us into watching a Joker origin story that is in fact NOT a Joker origin story? Is Todd Phillips somehow surprised why fans didn’t like the outcome of this sequel? The words are spoken from Arthur’s lawyer Maryanne as she says, “Arthur believes he has all these supporters, but they don’t really care about him. They care about Joker”. Even if this is a partially true commentary on the real world, Phillips’s team are the ones who decided to make a comic book film based on the most famous villain of all time. The reason they saw the movie is because they care about the Joker. Even so, him and Joaquin Phoenix did such a good job, audiences left the first film remembering Arthur Fleck. If Phillips and his screenwriting partner Scott Silver actually believe this and are annoyed by viewers loving the Joker over the character that they helped create, they need to get over themselves, plain and simple. If anything, they’re underrating their own work, as it turned into fans relating and admiring to Arthur like they do a Tony Stark, rather than the following the exploits of Joker and Iron Man. That is the difference. They have to be blind not to see that. The strange part is that it all could have been fixed in the third act. Up until Arthur’s breakdown in his closing arguments, I actually like, dare I say LOVED, the peculiar approach of Folie à Deux. A jukebox musical where these two legitimately insane people find solace in each other’s stories and are singing and dancing together, or imagining things in their own heads, was a fever dream of outside-the-box thinking and innovation, especially for the comic book film genre. Up until Arthur’s breakdown in the court, I was fully on board with the sequel, and I’m not ashamed to say it. Even if Arthur started to doubt himself and seemed to regret how things have turned out once he realizes his impact on Gotham and innocent people like Gary Puddles, which really isn’t fully internalized until he’s in the backseat of two of his supporters in the climax and runs, the story’s full circle moment could have happened with one crucial change that could have saved everything.

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

Right as Arthur’s closing argument begins and he tries to garner sympathy with his supposed revelation, the car bomb goes off and he’s rescued by his supporters. Instead of running away from it all after discovering his impact on Gotham, Arthur should have doubled down, sat up in the backseat while watching the aftermath of the chaos like he did at the end of Joker, and fully embraced his new life as Joker with a smile on his face, becoming a leader of these men and the many others. Then, he can still go find Lee on the stairs to invite her to join him on his quest to take over Gotham and right all the wrongs both of them have been through. When she becomes detracted and talks about how all they had “was the fantasy and you gave up” and how “There is no Joker. That’s what you said, isn’t it?”. He could have officially taken the throne by smiling and revealing how his closing argument and everything that followed was all a part of the plan, showcasing the first inkling of being a criminal mastermind that the Joker is and will become. Sadly, this goes completely against what Phillips wanted to do with this sequel because the doubling down has been proven to be problematic for the mainstream audiences. Basically, he caved, and Folie à Deux‘s whole point is to distance itself from the nihilistic stance Joker takes. It’s what the auteur wanted to do, and we have to live with it. Nonetheless, there isn’t a single fan that wanted this approach because it’s just not the Joker. That is why the sequel failed above all else. However, that’s just it. Again, it’s not about the Joker, it’s about Arthur Fleck. We just can’t make the distinction and refuse to do so because you’ve already told worldwide audiences that this is the Joker with the foundation put in place by the important first film.

In defense of the story of Arthur Fleck, which is more of the movie’s focus, I loved the in-and-out, open-ended dialogue between Arthur and Lee in that final conversation on the infamous staircase in The Bronx. I adored how she goes on singing “That’s Entertainment” and doesn’t blink while an emotional Arthur is trying to plead with her to stop (“I don’t wanna sing anymore”; “Just talk to me. Please stop singing”) because he still needs answers about them and a potential pregnancy but isn’t getting them. Then, she simply states, “Goodbye Arthur” before exiting. In a way, he’s taking the place of the viewer who’s being frustrated with the narrative and the overall direction of this sequel while Phillips and the rest of the crew are in place of Lee, ignoring everything he’s saying to finish the conversation where she wants before he’s arrested again, then saying goodbye to the character for good. It’s bizarrely cool with how it’s handled, and you can feel the voice of Phillips and Scott Silver behind it. I don’t know if we’ve felt such a connection to a filmmaker and screenwriter from page to screen like that in years, but it’s like they’re calling to the viewer and subsequently putting us in our place.

My biggest problem was with Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinzel or “Lee”. Doubling down on telling the fans to go fuck themselves, Phillips makes Lee the one who is manipulating Arthur, furthering the point that he’s not the Joker because the real Joker would never allow this. She’s basically portrayed as being crazier than Arthur and then threw him away after he wasn’t the idol she thought he was, a leader who spoke to her real self (“You can do anything you want. You’re Joker”). Instead, she’s just another part of his life who works to kick him while he’s down before getting his hopes up first, making Arthur even more of a sad sack of shit that deals with more hell (SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS) until he’s stabbed in prison and dies. She’s the one who is a liar and is just obsessive over the idea of Joker, but when he reveals that there wasn’t philosophic meaning behind what he was doing and it’s been him all the time, she walks out on him. The dream is dead right then and there. Part of this development is conspicuous meta commentary, with Phillips and Silver essentially taking in all the hate, criticism, and unwanted publicity and fan attention of the first movie (basically everything that was good about it) and telling everyone to stop it with how they wrote Lee and certain moments in the screenplay. With the defining car bomb scene, it happens because of Arthur’s closing argument of “I just wanna blow it all up and start a new life”. Of course, he meant his life, so he can start fresh. Unfortunately, his supporters take it literally and they may possibly want to start a new life for everyone with the car bomb. That’s when you can see it in the concerned eyes of Arthur when he’s laid down in the back of the car of his two supporters as “My Life” by Billy Joel plays in an eye-opening scene for both the main character and the audience. It’s a moment of realization where he sees the consequences of his words and actions and what they’ve caused, much like how Phillips and Silver may have thought seeing the positive reception the character has gotten from concerning communities that didn’t entirely understand all the nuanced themes of Joker.

When the one guy tells Arthur at the stoplight, “This is just the beginning man. They’re gonna burn the whole fucking city down now!”, it’s akin to the idolization of the warning Joker was seen as by less fortunate audiences worldwide who wanted their voice to be heard. Though it’s an overreaction to a movie, some have seen Joker as a celebration and almost a push for anarchy to make a difference. This is why Arthur gets out and starts running since he now sees the phenomenon of bad people he inspired because of their resonation with his actions. He’s uncomfortable with it because the reason he did everything he did in the predecessor was because it directly affected him, aligning with his “narcissistic self-centeredness” diagnosis according to Dr. Liu (Ken Leung) who downplays Arthur’s other “minor” mental disorders in court (“This is a very disturbed individual, but I can’t give you any kind of psychiatric defense for him”). When people responded at first, Arthur sat back and enjoyed the success and praise for it because people started to notice him. Now, he’s running away from it because it’s gone too far and he’s trying to make a point by distancing himself from it. Does that sound familiar? Todd Phillips made Joker and went all-in with his idea to turn the genre on its head with a vicious and angry look on how Joker could come to life in the real world, and he sat back and enjoyed the box office success and critical praise for his remarkable work on the film. Years later, it’s as if the adulation came at a price and he’s being looked at as the harbinger of the incel community and those who preach “Fuck the system”, as his film and take on the famous villain have become a mascot for how they’ve been treated. The guilt and regret set in with Phillips, and it’s like he wanted to go back on what he did, similarly to other poster boys for “not giving a fuck” like Howard Stern or Eminem. Both have gone through the same enlightenment period after realizing how many people they’ve influenced for the worse, despite reaping the benefits for years.

The entire screenplay for Joker: Folie à Deux now makes sense as it’s Todd Phillips’s answer to the reception, with the director trying to distance himself from the Joker franchise, DC, and Warner Bros. as a whole, as it was reported that he refused any notes from any studio head. With this in mind, his goal was accomplished, and the message was sent and understood. People reacting negatively to it because of the complete dressing down of such an important character that now has a cinematic legacy as a result of his work should not be a surprise to the filmmaker. The triple down of the unfortunate and depressing character arc in the final minute doesn’t salvage anything, despite it possibly revealing there could be another insane murderer taking the mantle. At this point, why should we believe you? It just makes us feel like we wasted our time on the poster boy who was promoted as the Joker. This whole time we thought we were watching this different, authentic, and grounded take on this timeline’s version of how Arthur Fleck became the Joker, but it turns into just some guy who dealt with childhood trauma and mental illness and killed six people. If this was always the point, why do it, knowing you’re going to piss off the audience that actually liked the first movie? Is it just out of guilt, or did he really want this to be how the franchise ended? On top of that, Arthur coming to grips and giving up and admitting there is no Joker just doesn’t align with the Arthur Fleck they’ve established. After all the pain and suffering he dealt with in the first film and how free he felt once he embraced his true self and what he did for all those other people, it’s still an illogical decision for the character to go back on everything he said and did in this continuation of the story. At the same time, it makes even less sense for Arthur to laugh at the guilty verdict because if he did feel bad and was trying to go back on everything, this is another major inconsistency in the character arc Phillips is trying to correct. There’s no way Arthur can earnestly sing something like “The Joker” and thinking about brutally murdering Dent and the judge, shooting himself, and then try to sell that he’s not in fact any of that.

All of this just undoes Joker in its entirety and its subsequent contributions to cinema history, which is the better film in comparison. That is the problem. Even so, we’re loyal and we’ll still follow the next production the villain is involved in, echoing the words of “We still love you man!” and “We love you Joker!” that Arthur’s supporters yell as Arthur runs away from them because he doesn’t want to be a part of what’s going on, like Phillips is with the fandom of the first movie and DC Studios in general. Not sure if this was the intention or not, but one of the supporters being hit by a car does seem like a metaphor for the fans and the real purpose behind this sequel.

Lee takes the place of the audience who like I said in the review of Joker, made the first movie their entire personality and didn’t understand all the points trying to be made. Instead of still seeing the menace to society that Joker is, some see him as the clear-cut hero and idolized him as a man who understands the people and wants to make a change for the good by going about it the wrong way, inciting a rebellion of sorts. The clown masked mob in Gotham started to translate to real life in some regard, and it looks like Joker: Folie à Deux was made as a response to the unwanted backlash, practically ridiculing those who fell in love with the character for the wrong reasons. I get it, but I just have a lot of problems with this idea and some of them are much simpler than you think. First of all, get over yourself. The first movie came out in 2019. The hype isn’t there to where millions are trying to start a movement or something. Second of all, I will bring up the same thing that I said previously in the review for Joker. If viewers latch onto Arthur’s story that much to where they love everything about him and see him as a hero, that’s their own problem. Thirdly, what if a viewer just really liked the first movie, and there were never nefarious intentions? They just adored the production, the storytelling, the cool character arc of the protagonist and every aspect of it, and it’s one of their favorite films or something. Then what? Did Phillips come up with this third act to say fuck those people too, just because he’s afraid of the Comic-Con freaks? If he’s that fixated on his own work and sees it as his duty to destroy his sequel and Warner Bros. along with it, it just seems grossly irresponsible, though also right up Phillips’s alley. In doing so, he’s done irreparable damage to the brand but also for filmmakers in general. They gave you that much money for a sequel and that much creative freedom with the film, and you chose the “Fuck everyone” route?

Grow up.

For the record, I too was against the idea of a musical sequel as soon as it was announced because simply put, why? Despite my reservations, I admit I was surprised at how they made sense of it all. A lot of the time, Arthur is hallucinating or imagining these song and dance numbers in his head until he comes back to reality. Each song chosen perfectly explains his thoughts and reactions in the moment because it wouldn’t make sense for him to express such feelings outright. It wouldn’t fit Phoenix’s subdued approach to the character that only has a few outbursts from time to time. A good portion of the performance is Arthur keeping everything inside and letting out sprinkles here and there of how he’s feeling with certain expressions or comments. Inserting musical ballads in between allows us to dive into Arthur’s head in the guise of known pop songs, and we can see exactly how he’s feeling in the moment. Going along with this, each ballad sequence is shot sensationally, utilizing that $200 million budget very well. Every sequence is brilliant and filled with color and creativity in the costuming, Lawrence Sher’s cinematography is excellent throughout, and the striking production design works both as a way to showcase his feelings of love and happiness (Joker wearing the white suit goes hard by the way) as well as when he’s feeling like he’s being duped. The production values and cinematography excellence are evident in the rest of the film as well, but these musical sequences are such stark contrasts to the rest of the film that they shine even more in a technicolor sort of way. It shouldn’t surprise you that “The Joker and Harley Show” sequence was inspired by Sonny and Cher’s variety programs. In addition, I appreciated the decision for Arthur and Lee to sing purposely off-key because it felt more real and true to this insane relationship brewing between these characters. They sing because they’re happy, not because they’re professionals. It’s all about the emotion they feel since they are elated about what’s happening. Having them sing eloquently and dance like rockstars wouldn’t fit.

This approach fit the psyche of the characters, and it helped even more when they had moments alone to sing that didn’t involve the extravagance of the imagined scenarios like when Lee sings to herself in the mirror when she applies her Joker makeup (“I’ve Got the World on a String”) or when Arthur calls her on the prison phone (“If You Go Away”). It’s technically a musical yes, but it’s not the traditional musical you think of when the word is said. It’s all by design, and it’s a risky decision that is in fact pulled off to my amazement.

As it was consistent with the first movie, there is a lot of dark humor that will have you laughing out loud at some of the more important or darker moments in the film like when Arthur is taken in Arkham to be beaten by the guards, and he jokingly calls out “I’m an attorney now! I will see you in court!”, when he lightly slaps one of them when they think he passed out, or when Sophie talks about the awful TV movie made about Arthur, which prompts him to look over at Lee to mouth the words asking if it was bad. Then, when she ensures him that it was good, he goes back to smiling. The entire courtroom scene involving Gary Puddles’s testimony was hysterical. From the top of the scene where the judge makes it known he doesn’t want this trial to be a circus, and it’s followed by Gary walking into the room, with Joker excitedly encouraging Gary “Hey Gary! Go get ’em!”, I was cackling. It was brilliant comedy, highlighted by Joker speaking in a southern drawl to play the role as his own lawyer and his first argument being how Gary’s name sounds like a joke itself (“You expect us to believe that your last name is Puddles? Puddles?!”). The follow-up of the judge reiterating how he doesn’t want this trial to be a circus to which Joker responds, “With all due respect your honor, don’t you think it’s a little late for that?” was pure hilarity. Even when Joker talks about how Randall from the first film was a bit of a bully, and Gary argues that he still didn’t deserve to die, the twisted psyche and humor is still found with Phoenix’s expert delivery of, “I don’t know… Eh, never mind”. Following the emotional end to the scene, they still cap it off with Joker crossing off “Puddles” on his legal pad and right above it was the unused question of “How actually tall are you?”. Earlier, “Chinese or Japanese” is seen on his legal pad too when Dr. Liu is on the stand as if it would make some sort of difference, and even that exudes laughter. Regardless, Gary’s scene is worth the viewing alone, and it was another great example of Joaquin Phoenix showing how multifaceted Arthur is by himself, how he portrays Joker, and how they are intertwined but also separate entities in a way.

By the way, I don’t care what anyone says. Joaquin Phoenix is still phenomenal as Arthur Fleck. He clearly had more to give in the role and really spearheaded this go-around as the protagonist. Without a doubt, he made the right decision to return and doesn’t lose a beat as the chain-smoking mentally ill inmate who is on the verge of finding love. At the same time, during that videotaped session with Dr. Beatty, Phoenix exudes an aura of a serial killer without saying much at all. Again, it’s the subtleties in his performance that cannot be commended enough. With his awkward approach, underrated comic timing (there’s no way you don’t laugh when Gary points out that the killer is the one sitting there in a “red suit and clown makeup” and Joker looks back like it’s not him), and ability to make us believe in his murderous persona as well as a sad (possibly) virgin manchild is all-around impressive work. He really managed to replicate his Oscar-winning role while adding new layers to the character with how Arkham State Hosptial has changed him. His first interaction with Lee, telling her why he was placed there is a great example of this. Watch how he rolls off the tongue “I killed five people, one live on national television. What about you?”. He doesn’t stutter over the devastating details but rather says it in quick succession like an innocent kid having a conversation with an interesting stranger. How about when Gary reminds Arthur how he was the only one who never made fun of Gary and was actually nice to him, and Arthur starts to get visibly emotional and his voice cracks slightly when he yells “No more questions your honor!” while trying to still pull of the joking southern accent? It’s incredible stuff, and there are so many scenes involved in both movies where you can’t help but admire Phoenix for his talent.

Despite the many issues this sequel has, one pro coming out of it is it’s clearing up of the ending of Joker. One thing that has bothered me since 2019 was the one possible interpretation that none of the events happened, and Arthur imagined it all while he was in Arkham. As a movie fan, it may have bothered me until the end of time if I didn’t know the real answer, so I’m glad this sequel had no other choice but to confirm the reality of what transpired. From a viewer’s perspective, it was very satisfying. On a smaller note, the subtle moment of Arthur finally getting to sit down in court and is immediately told “All rise” as soon as he touches his seat was such a great nod to the understated humor of this series. I loved it.

Mark my words, time will be kind to Joker: Folie à Deux. As a fan of the Joker, most of the movie’s issues stem from the devasting ending that decides to retcon this whole franchise into not being about the comic book villain. However, it’s beautifully shot (that shot of the door closing on Arthur laughing in his cell, and the light stays on him amidst darkness before the window is closed was a chef’s kiss), it’s well cast, it’s oddly funny, it’s fearlessness in its bizarre approach is spellbinding, the acting is magnificent, and it’s riddled with unforgettable sequences and moments that will add to an eventual legacy. Though the screenplay is an issue because of its treatment of the Joker himself, it will be appreciated by a lot more people down the line when we come to terms with this two-film franchise being about the created entity that is Arthur Fleck. Unfortunately, it will take many years before we get there.

Maybe Arthur did base his whole life on a lie his mother made up, but hey, it got us here, and we are lucky to get two wildly different and entertaining movies because of it.