It's fairly safe to say at this point that near everyone seeing Joker 2 seems to be hating the sequel.
Where the first film, which released in 2019, received widespread fan and critical acclaim and a pair of Oscars to boot, the second has received a 33 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and mass fan walk outs.
With it having cost $200 million to make, and earning less than Morbius in their domestic opening weekend, Warner Brothers will be desperate for some element of word of mouth to save this film.
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Though the mass walk outs and a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 31 percent, there is a quickly growing fan movement saying that people simply aren’t getting the point.
Whether Joker: Folie a Deux will stand the test of time after being hated on release is still to be seen, but fans are making a compelling argument for it.
One Joker superfan posted to the r/Joker subreddit saying: “People seem to completely miss the point of Joker: Folie à Deux.
“In the film, Lady Gaga plays the audience. She loves the crazy Joker persona, but rejects Arthur when she realises he is a real person and not a cartoon monster.
“And now the audience is rejecting the film, because it makes Arthur into a human being, and not a cool comic book villain. I'm not saying people have to like the film, but the message seems straightforward.
“It's pretty amazing to see a $200 million sequel that directly criticises the fans of the original. That to me feels genuinely transgressive and bold.”
The film focuses on Arthur Fleck aka The Joker being taken to court for the murders he carried out in Joker.
As this is ongoing, he grapples with his identity as The Joker which has been thrust upon him, meeting Lee Quinn (Harley Quinn) who encourages him to listen to his alter ego rather than Arthur Fleck.
Another posted on Twitter to say: “Joker 2 is good & people that didn’t like it are likely missing the entire point. it’s very meta & tragic. I loved it, more than the 1st one even. a perfect continuation of arthur’s story & respectful of the source material.”
They went on to surprisingly respectfully for Twitter say: “To be clear about my post & intention here: you are not weird or stupid or bad if you didn’t like Joker: Folie a Deux.
“It’s brilliant art to me that works on so many levels, and ultimately if art makes you feel something it succeeded—I would say more but want to avoid spoilers”.
A second Twitter poster said: “I think the audience is guilty of exactly what Joker 2 is critiquing. We showed up wanting him to PERFORM, blow things up, and be powerful.
“When he showed up mentally ill, dissociating into his imagination, and human we looked away in disgust… symbolic of real life.”
Whichever side you land on, the discussion around Joker 2 is very unlikely to end any time soon.
Joker: Folie a Deux is available in theatres now.
Topics: Joker, Film, Cinema, Entertainment, Harley Quinn, Lady Gaga, Joaquin Phoenix, TV and Film
Michael Slavin