So I finally watched Joker: Folie à Deux, more commonly known as Joker 2. Consider you’re a fan of the first film then you will enjoy this to an extent. This is because most of the movie follows a pretty similar plot and theme to the original. However it does fall off near the end.
My first issue with this movie is the pretentious title. I shouldn’t need to Google search the title to understand what it means… For those wondering ‘Folie à Deux’ essentially refers to a mental illness shared by two people in close association. It’s a little like how both I and the fat wife live under a constant psychotic paranoia that we will eat one another.
The second problem is the musical attributes. I decided not to see this movie at cinemas, simply because the musical aspect sounded terrible. However, it was actually acceptable and I dare even say enjoyable. It was incorporated into the mental illness aspect of the film successfully and did not feel forced or distracting to the actual plot. It was however unnecessary and I am suspicious that it was an attempt to extend into the Broadway format.
The first film follows a mentally ill Arthur Fleck, who is constantly stomped on by the world. He represents the downtrodden, and murders three bankers who attack him on the train. He then proceeds to murder his abusive mother, his bully from work and a man from the media that attempts to humiliate him. The film concludes with a happy ending: Fleck is free and the people of Gotham join him in the revolution. Society abuses Fleck so much throughout the movie, that the audience is forced to feel sympathetic to his cause. We understand his transformation into the Joker character and his revenge upon those that have wronged us all.
The first two thirds of Joker 2 follow a similar style. The Joker is now imprisoned and we see his suffering as he is forced to go to trial. However, we are not given a happy ending in this film. Instead the entire movie is a 2 hour ritual humiliation of this idolized figure.
So without explanation, the second movie opens with Arthur Fleck imprisoned. Fleck is silent and mentally destroyed, until he meets a girl. She is able to draw the Joker personality out of Fleck throughout the movie. Fleck is then raped by prison guards and essentially tells the world that he is no longer the Joker. His girl leaves him and he is killed in prison. Every time we see the Joker personality come out, he is once again destroyed by the cesspit of a society around him.
This movie’s purpose is simply to re-write the ending of the first. There was a real cultural celebration of Joker and his achievements. The mainstream media at the time wrote many articles promoting the fear that this movie would drive extremism. It was actually a good selling point; I went and saw the first movie in cinema because of the thrill that I may be killed by a random incel at any moment.
The director and writer Todd Phillips is of course Jewish. Joaquin Phoenix who plays Joker is also Jewish. Warner Bros. Discovery is owned by progressive investor groups including The Vanguard Group, BlackRock Inc and State Street Corp. I think they got worried that people cheered on the execution of bankers and media figures so immensely. The establishment accidentally created a popular symbol for murdering the people in power.
This sequel is therefore a destruction of that symbol. The entire movie is about publicly humiliating, raping and murdering the downtrodden folk that dare to stand up against the system. It is pure evil and they knew exactly what they were doing. Warner Bros. gave this film a budget of $200 million dollars and an estimated $100 million to market and distribute. Yet they refused to do any test screenings. This proves that it was never about the money, but rather about destroying the Joker figure.
In contrast, the original movie had a budget of $55 million and grossed over $1 billion. The sequel merely grossed $165 million globally and was a huge failure because of its larger budget. We all united to reject the sabotaged sequel. I’m therefore glad that this movie bombed harder than a Palestinian hospital. It can’t join the cultural zeitgeist if no one has seen it.
