I never really considered Joker or Joker: Folie à Deux comic book movies. Joker felt like an indie movie telling the story of a completely different character than Joker in the comics. It might have been better off that way. Anyone looking for a comic book movie would probably be disappointed in Joker: Folie à Deux, but having said that, the first movie wasn’t like a comic book movie, either, except for the rather satisfying ending.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy comic book movies. When I’m looking for an escape and to see the good guys win, most comic book movies fit that craving. Some great characters come from comics and comic book movies.
Joker is probably my all-time favorite movie and I was one of those people who really didn’t want a sequel. I loved the first movie so much that no sequel would be satisfying, but my biggest reason for not wanting one was that I thought it would go the route of a more traditional comic book movie. I thought Arthur would be lost to Joker. I was surprised to find that the second movie stayed true to Arthur.
What I loved about the first movie was that an underdog character rose above his adversaries and briefly got the upper hand. The people who abused him for the most part got exactly what they were looking for. The end of Joker was open to interpretation. Those on the side of three drunk guys who assault a weaker guy on a train, a child abuser, a man who provides a weapon to a mentally unstable person, and a talk show host who goads a confessed murderer in the middle of a mental breakdown could imagine Arthur got the death penalty or rotted in Arkham. Those who sided with Arthur could imagine he finally gets the help he needs, and those who wanted to see Joker become a criminal mastermind can believe that’s what happened.
Now we have Joker: Folie à Deux, so unless you’re into fan fiction, we know Arthur’s sad fate.
As a movie, I truly enjoyed Joker: Folie à Deux. I’m grateful it stayed true to Arthur because he’s a character I care about. His Joker side was fantastic only because he stood up for himself and gave the middle finger to a world that didn’t care about people in general. Joker: Folie à Deux dragged Arthur through the coals again. It dug deeper into him, and the musical parts were integral to the story because they were Arthur’s escape. The movie raised questions about his mental state and how he might have dealt with severe abuse in his formative years. To this viewer, it appeared that in the musical scenes that were a direct look into Arthur’s head, even if he remembered what Joker did, he was in a separate state of mind. When Arthur couldn’t handle what was happening in reality, he lost himself to an inner world. This doesn’t erase the fact that he committed the murders, but it gives a deeper understanding about Arthur. Arthur never harmed anyone who didn’t harm him. Arthur, born to an abusive mother, knew enough about being mistreated to recognize those who showed him kindness.
Joker: Folie à Deux continued the heartfelt drama of Arthur Fleck’s story, but other than a couple of nods to the comic book world it was based on, it ignored the traditional Joker.
What I didn’t like about Joker: Folie à Deux was that Arthur never got the help he needed and never escaped abuse. I don’t fault the movie so much here, because, unfortunately, it’s probably more realistic than the happier ending I wanted for him.
What makes Joker: Folie à Deux such a good movie is that it opens up so many questions and has so many gray areas. We see the type of horrible people Arthur killed, but except for his lawyer mentioning the abuse Arthur suffered as a child due to his mother, his victims were viewed by most other characters as pristine and innocent. We see throughout both movies how Arthur was treated by most people because he didn’t always view the world like everyone else and he did have issues that people found annoying or hard to deal with. It makes you stop and think how people treat each other in real life, if we try to understand our differences or if we instantly hate or ignore those who aren’t quite like us.
So many other movies attempt to guide people one way or another or dictate values. In so many movies, the good guys win because there is a solid line between good and bad. Joker and Joker: Folie à Deux show a more realistic view of the world. They ask you to think for yourself.
Since this movie wasn’t, in my opinion, a comic book movie, the end felt like a forced tie-in to a world that Arthur and his clown should never have been a part of to begin with. In general, I’m all for cross-genre stories, but in this case, an indie-style drama didn’t mix well with a comic book movie. It could have mixed well, but with too many compromises to be acceptable to either.
Joker and Joker: Folie à Deux are excellent movies that I will continue to re-watch again and again.
Link courtesy of IMDb.