The Joker 2 (formally known as Joker: Folie à Deux) is out and it’s not doing very nicely. Critics don’t appear to love it, audiences don’t take pleasure in it, and it’s not making almost as a lot cash as its 2019 blockbuster predecessor. And if you’re an enormous fan of the primary Joker and determined to nonetheless go see the film after all of the damaging press and opinions, nicely, you may not have loved how director Todd Phillips determined to finish his courtroom/supervillain/musical drama.
SPOILER WARNING: We’re going to completely spoil the ending of Joker: Folie à Deux. Should you don’t need to know what occurs on the finish of the film, nicely, uh…I’d cease studying this text proper now! Critically.
So right here’s how Joker 2 wraps up. After witnessing the brutal dying of a younger inmate and confronting a traumatized sufferer from his rampage in 2019’s Joker, Joaquin Phoneix’s Arthur Fleck realizes that this complete rebellious crime clown routine isn’t working. He then admits in courtroom that he’s simply Arthur Fleck, that the Joker persona was by no means actual, and that he dedicated these horrible crimes. He’s discovered responsible, however a bomb erupts. He’s saved by his followers and brought to Girl Gaga’s Harley Quinn, who has absolutely embraced her supervillain standing and promptly dumps lonely, boring Arthur Fleck.
Following this, Fleck is recaptured and introduced again to Arkham the place one other laughing inmate tells him a joke. He then stabs Arthur and leaves him to die as this younger inmate cuts a smile into his face, implying that this man is the “actual” Joker who will go on to commit crimes and mayhem in Gotham as Batman’s arch-rival.
Yeah! Type of wild. And this isn’t my or another person’s interpretation, that is immediately from director Todd Philips by way of a brand new interview with Leisure Weekly the place he defined why he went with this ending and likewise confirmed it’s not all a dream.
When requested why Arthur would confess his guilt and quit the Joker persona, Phillips mentioned that “He realized that every thing is so corrupt, it’s by no means going to vary, and the one option to repair it’s to burn all of it down.” He continued:
“When these guards kill that child within the [Arkham] he realizes that dressing up in make-up, placing on this factor, it’s not altering something. In some methods, he’s accepted the truth that he’s all the time been Arthur Fleck; he’s by no means been this factor that’s been put upon him, this concept that Gotham individuals placed on him, that he represents. He’s an unwitting icon. This factor was positioned on him, and he doesn’t need to stay as a faux anymore — he needs to be who he’s.”
I wasn’t an enormous fan of the unique Joker, I feel it was largely tremendous and carried by some stable performances, so I can’t think about how superfans will need to have felt watching Fleck die as the brand new, actual Joker rises. These individuals believed this story was the origin of the Joker after which on the final minute, Philips pulls the rug out from below them and saus “lol. Nah.”
It’s a wild alternative, one which isn’t audacious sufficient to make Joker 2 film, however one which will likely be remembered. Folie à Deux seems like The Hangover trilogy director was capable of trick Warner Bros. into funding a film that principally serves as a large center finger to followers and a defiant act of trolling that the Joker himself would most likely recognize. And contemplating reviews that Phillips had full artistic management and there have been no take a look at screenings, the entire “tricking the studio into making a ‘fuck you’ film” may not be that far off…
Talking to Leisure Weekly, Phillips additionally mentioned “The unhappy factor is, he’s Arthur, and no one cares about Arthur.” I’d beg to vary. I feel lots of people care about Arthur Fleck, sufficient to assist that first movie attain $1 billion on the field workplace. However with this wild ending, unhealthy musical numbers, and boring dialogue, it’s unlikely the sequel will attain those self same heights. At the very least we are able to relaxation assured that Fleck and Philips’ lackluster DC movie universe ain’t coming again. In all probability.
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