After a highly anticipated wait, “Joker: Folie à Deux”, hit theaters on October 4, and to much surprise, it was not a show stopper as its predecessor was.
Before I had a chance to see for myself, the internet quickly jumped to share its negative opinions and critiques of this sequel. In scrolling through reviews, there is one thing I have found in the cinema realm, and that is that society quickly freaks out when unknowing musical sequences are present.
Not only is the film not being received well by fans, but the numbers speak for themselves. In the first two weeks of release, the film earned $165 million worldwide, while the first “Joker” made $248 million worldwide in only three days. Overall, the first “Joker” had the biggest international release among R-rated films, bringing in $743 million. The sequel film will stay in theaters, earning revenue until the end of the month with the potential to break even, but as of now, the producers are set to lose $150 to 200 million dollars from this run.
The Warners Bros. company has recently undergone a merger with Discovery, accumulating 40.95 million dollars of debt as of June 2024. It’s unclear where the company’s direction is headed. They’ve recently been haunted by comic book movies such as The Flash (2023) and Blue Beetle (2023), both of which underperformed at the box office. After the pandemic and in this economy, not many people want to watch these superhero movies in the cinema, if at all. Personally, I prefer the comfort of my couch paired with my streaming services.
Despite the overwhelmingly negative reviews, I went to the theater to see all 139 minutes of the film and have compiled my thoughts below, spoiler-free, of course.
First of all, there is a difference between a musical film and a movie with music in it. A musical film uses songs to communicate ideas that are as equally important to the story as the dialogue. If you took the music out of a musical, you wouldn’t get the full story. For example, many Disney movies like “Moana” are musical films. “La La Land” and “Grease” are musical films. Other films that have music incorporated in them can often be mislabeled as musicals. Examples can include the “Pitch Perfect” series and “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”. After watching it for myself, I concluded that “Joker: Folie à Deux” is not a musical but a movie with music in it, and in fact, I enjoyed it. The music scenes are actually a creative way to depict to the audience that the scene is not grounded in reality but a dissociative episode Arthur (Joaquin Phoenix) and/or the new character Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) are having.
After seeing the film, I’m honestly shocked by the low critic ratings. Both Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga mirrored each other’s crazy in captivating performances. However, by no means is this film perfect.. As a viewer, I saw pacing issues and struggled to stay engaged in certain chapters, but the majority of the film was fascinating.
Part of the film takes place in a courtroom where Arthur stands trial for crimes committed in the first film. During those scenes, I felt themes were presented, especially concerning how modern media tends to make a mockery of mental health..
The accompanying soundtrack was beautiful, and the film contained the same dark and ominous characteristics as the first film.
The fantasy love story between Arthur and Lee was artistically portrayed with a focus on mental illness and how spiraling diagnoses often mirror each other in relationships. In conclusion, the ending was satisfying, and the film was almost as unsettling as the first. However, it is clear that the first Joker is the better of the two.
It’s quite shocking that Joker 2 was a flop with such huge success from the first film, but it just shows that not everything needs a sequel. Warners Bros needs to shift away from superhero reboots as fans simply aren’t as interested. Hot take, Superman should have stayed dead. In conclusion, there should be a limited number of times one generation can reboot a classic character like the Joker. Let, let this be the end.
