Ryan Shoots First: Joker: Folie à Deux
This was an interesting week leading up to my viewing of Joker 2 (cause I ain’t typing over and over that long title). Maybe about the middle of last week, I saw a few posts from early screenings saying the movie was terrible as the week went on more and more poured in. I figured well everything is polarizing now so I am sure the good reviews will flow in soon. But they never really did, one after another everyone seemed to really hate this movie. I surly didn’t want this to frame how I would take in the movie but it was hard not to go into it thinking “What did everyone hate about it?” or “What did they miss?” “Did they just not get it?”. So it was an interesting evening.
Joker 2 is an interesting movie, it subverts a lot of ideas and where people expect a comic book movie to go and on the very thin surface, I think that is what pissed off so many. But plenty of comic book movies these days go the “elevated genre” route and they at least find SOME form of an audience. Joker 2 manages to upset both sides and while I am hesitant to say it fails at what it’s doing, it doesn’t, it achieves what it sets out to do. It’s just I am not sure anyone really wanted that film. Even in an artsy comic film, we know the flow. Joker 1 was the origin story and while it did a lot of “artsy fartsy” things it still ended with the Joker killing someone and…ya know… being the Joker. So the natural assumption is Joker 2 will pick up with Arthur taking the next step to whatever Todd Phillips’s version of the Clown Prince of Crime will look like. Instead, we see an almost introspective look at Arthur, a meta-narrative on obsessive serial killer fans and the importance of mental health. Again, as that movie it succeeds, it’s the movie they wanted to make but walking out of the theatre I thought to myself, “yea I see why they were pissed off”.
Arthur is almost the protagonist in the movie as the new Harley played by Lady Gaga is the antagonist. Her prodding and goading as the devil on Arthur’s shoulder is a noticeable flip from the standard Joker and Harley dynamic we have grown accustomed to. Then there is the music. The studio tried like hell to downplay the notion that this was a musical and sure by some definitions it isn’t but by many others it is. It’s La La Land with the Joker and Harley. Rhat didn’t bother me but yet another decision that will piss off a decent portion of people. And lastly, there is the ending. To me, it was the most egregious thing the movie does and I will save you the spoilers but it will CERTAINLY piss off a lot of people. Joker 2 is a series of moments that split the audience in half one after another and by the end, there is no one left to defend it. A joke with no one laughing.
