‘It doesn’t get any dumber than this’: Um…did Director Todd Philips seriously just say Joaquin Phoenix who made ‘Joker’ a billion-dollar hit isn’t THE Joker?
Joker: Folie à Deux has hit cinemas now and it’s been … a huge disaster.
The original was a hit that spawned a fandom and multiple memes, but the sequel has been met with little else but derision from critics and fans of the original. And a big part of that is due to the highly controversial ending.
Spoilers ahead and discussion of sexual assault.
Arthur Fleck, aka Joker, defends himself in court on the charge of mass murder. The authorities know about five deaths: the three Thomas Wayne employees, Randall, and Murray Franklin. Joker is worn down by the tearful testimony of Gary, the man who witnessed the Randall murder, and then something shocking happens: He is implied to be sexually assaulted by the guards at Arkham. That same night, the guards kill a fan of Arthur’s who was also locked up at Arkham.
The horror of his situation leads Arthur to denounce the Joker in court, and immediately after that the courtroom is blown up with a car bomb. Arthur survives, escapes and meets up with girlfriend Lee, who tells him that the fantasy of Joker was all they had and walks away. Arthur is recaptured and sent back to Arkham, facing the death penalty. Then he’s stabbed by another inmate and bleeds to death while that inmate carves the famous Joker smile into his own face.
It’s a lot. And people are baffled at what the actual point of the movie was. Was it an origin story for a different Joker, one we barely see and don’t get to know? Was it a reproachment of the Joker fans who celebrated Arthur’s murders? Or was it just plain misery porn? Well, director Todd Phillips is leaning towards the movie being the first of those things, actually, as bizarre as that might seem. He got talking to Entertainment Weekly about Joker’s second outing on the day the film released, and he explained:
“When those guards kill that kid [the Joker fanboy in Arkham] he realizes that dressing up in makeup, putting on this thing, it’s not changing anything. In some ways, he’s accepted the fact that he’s always been Arthur Fleck; he’s never been this thing that’s been put upon him, this idea that Gotham people put on him, that he represents. He’s an unwitting icon. This thing was placed on him, and he doesn’t want to live as a fake anymore — he wants to be who he is.”
But, fans would argue, was it really placed on him? Arthur made a pretty conscious choice to be Joker in the first movie, and he also made the choice to kill people. Yet according to Phillips, that was never really the case. Phillips pointed out that Lee, too, sees Arthur only as Joker until the moment she breaks up with him, and that’s the first and only time she uses his real name. “[She’s] realizing, I’m on a whole other trip, man, you can’t be what I wanted you to be.” With the Joker gone, she’s not interested in the broken, beaten Arthur.
In another interview with IGN, Phillips claimed he never meant to make Arthur Fleck the real Joker. He said:
“The first film is called Joker. It’s not called The Joker, it’s called Joker. And the first film under the script always said “An origin story.” Never said THE origin story. It was this idea that maybe this isn’t THE Joker. Maybe this is the inspiration for the Joker. So, in essence at the end of this movie, the thing you’re being left with is “Wait, what is that thing happening behind him? Is that the guy?”
But isn’t this a bit of a cop-out? Phillips pointed out in the same interview that Joker established Arthur Fleck as much older than Batman, a deviation from the original Batman canon—but the first movie still really seemed to indicate Arthur was the, not a, Joker. Unsurprisingly, fans have been absolutely slaughtering the retcon, the ending, and the entire production on X/Twitter.
Other complaints include: the musical numbers were jarring, Lady Gaga was wasted as Lee, and plot points from the original (like, uh, Bruce Wayne seeing his parents gunned down) weren’t picked up. Critics have given the film a dismal 33% on RottenTomatoes, and the user score is even lower at 31%. Box office wise, the film’s not broken even, and it’s looking to be a complete bomb. Still, though—fans seem to be taking joy in continually roasting the movie. And isn’t that what the Joker would want?
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