I Saw Joker II and Thought It Was Brilliant

I had pretty much decided NOT to see the new “Joker: Folie a Deux”.

I loved the first one, which won Joaquin Phoenix a Best Actor Oscar. The new movie, however, was getting panned by critics and fans alike. But, my daughter (out of school for Fall break) was interested in it and I had a few hours, so off to the movies we went.

Before I praise the movie, the actors, and director Todd Phillips, I will admit they didn’t need THAT many Tin Pan Alley numbers from a hundred years ago. That said, I was probably the only person under 100 who recognized all of those songs. But, every time Arthur Fleck and Gaga broke into ANOTHER Cole Porter or Ivor Novello tune, I thought, “No, not again”.

Not everybody loved the first Joker or understood it. I think those are the fans Phillips was sending a big “FU” to.

The following paragraph has NO SPOILERS…but the one after that DOES. Proceed with caution.

The film is set two years after the events of the first film. Arthur Fleck is in Arkham Asylum for murdering five people including late-night TV host Murray Franklin on live television. Fleck is tormented in various ways by his jailers but is allowed to go to a prison music class where he sees Gaga’s Lee Quinzel. Yes, somehow they have co-ed music class in the most notorious prison/asylum in the world.  Lee is an admirer and Arthur fantasizes about her via way too many musical interludes. However…(this is where the SPOILER section begins).  Beware! Here be spoilers!!

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My interpretation is that Arthur Fleck is fantasizing about the ENTIRE relationship. Just like in the first Joker (they even bring back Zazie Beetz’s Sophie to drive home how much of an unreliable narrator Arthur is) he is a small, weak shell of a man who can’t tell real life from fantasy. I think SOME of what he experiences is happening, like meeting with his attorney and going to trial for his crimes. But the entire Harley Quinn fantasy is only that. Maybe she’s a woman he caught a glimpse of on visiting day or, just as likely, he made her up out of whole cloth. Sure, other characters make reference to Lee…but that’s all through the filter of Arthur’s broken mind.

You see, THIS Joker, the Phillips/Phoenix/Fleck Joker could NEVER be a true criminal mastermind. I think many fans were hoping this is what he would turn into in Folie a Deux. But Phillips brilliantly makes it clear: Arthur is only pathetic. He never has a larger purpose. This is not a man who will someday be a match for Bruce Wayne. Even when he commits violence, it’s just shooting someone with a regular gun at point-blank range. Arthur Fleck is not a supervillain. He’s not super-anything.

I think maybe that’s what Phillips is getting at: Arthur isn’t strong or even smart. He’s just pathetic. And that’s what Phillips thinks of Arthur’s “fans”, both the ones in the movie and the ones in the audience.

For fans of Batman or Joker, the only gratification comes in the last scene. I don’t want to spoil THAT but it’s amazing. And, I think we finally see the “real” Joker we all know get his true origin story.