535: Joker: Folie à Deux

[Henry Faherty]:\nTwo forty one. Let's get to the second bonus review for this collection, which is Joker Folie Adu. It's directed by Todd Phillips, stars Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan. And the synopsis is struggling with his dual identity, failed comedian Arthur Fleck meets the love of his life, Harley Quinn, while incarcerated at Arkham State Hospital. There's a lot to say about this movie. I don't know exactly where to begin. I'm gonna do my best to keep my thoughts organized and cover as much as I can. Also, just in case you haven't listened to it yet, I did just review the first Joker a couple weeks ago, so check that out. When this was announced, I know that there was a lot of questions as to where it was gonna go. I think even Joaquin Phoenix at first was like, I didn't wanna do one until everything came together. There was the right story. But considering how much I liked the first one, how much I like the character of Joker and everyone involved, I was more than excited, especially when they said Lady Gaga was gonna be Harley Quinn. The reviews, both critically and audience wise, were horrible for the most part. It had one of the biggest or the biggest box office drop for a superhero film maybe ever in terms of the first weekend to the second weekend. It had the worst cinema score by an audience for any comic book film, beating out, like, Madame Web recently and a lot of others that had flopped. The budget was around two hundred million, and it's only made about two hundred million back, so a box office failure all in all. That doesn't stop me at all. Honestly, I tend to like the things as for anyone who listens to the show knows. I tend to go for the things that people are trashing, not to be contrarian for the sake of it, but I'm oftentimes in the minority of certain films like this that don't do as well as I would hope. And I'm sure I'm gonna get a lot of flack. Feel free to comment with any of your thoughts. Flat out, I've never been as entertained \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nby a movie in a long time. It's got some issues that I'll get to. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nAnd let me say, if you don't like it, I'm not trying to convince you or say that you're wrong. To each their own. You know, if you don't like it, you don't like it. If you like it, you like it. So I'm not trying to get on all the naysayers or anything like that. Just simply saying my opinion based on how I thought on my first viewing of it. When it comes to the musical stuff, I wasn't that worried about it. I know that considering the marketing, it did not market that as a musical, which Warner Brothers has been doing a lot over the years. I understand if you went in thinking, okay. This is a Joker sequel. I loved the first one. I saw the trailers, which just showed some of Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. I'm in. You know, that's not the fault of the viewer, the average viewer. I didn't know how the musical stuff was gonna be incorporated, so I was very curious in that way. I thought it was done, maybe not flawlessly, every single time, but I loved how those dance numbers, those music numbers were connected to the story. And that mainly from what I got is you're living in the fantasy of Joker and Harley Quinn. It's not necessarily them singing this in real life. I mean, occasionally, it is. But I thought it was primarily them being in a situation in which they cannot communicate properly to someone in how they feel and or they didn't know how to communicate what they're feeling to that person. The film looks amazing. Like, I know everybody is saying that in terms of even the haters. The lighting, even in its darkest, most drab locations, like Arkham looks great. The difference of color tones, the oranges, the grays, the blues, the costume design, for example, the look of Harley Quinn at the end, every outfit and that evolution of her look throughout the movie with her clothes, with her hair, with her makeup, The score as well, it's the same composer as the first. The score is incredible. And with the the lighting and the look, there's a lot of deep focus cinematography, which was refreshing. And that's how it is in the first Joker too, but I thought it was used even better in this, the look of the city, even in how that's used in a lot of interior locations, which most of the movie is interior. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nOne criticism, a lot of people said it was boring. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nI didn't get that at all. I was glued to the screen. It's long. It did not feel that long to me. I thought it was paced very, very well. Additionally, there's been a lot of comments on how the plot is inert. I don't inherently disagree that this sequel was needed per se. I mean, no sequel is needed to be real. Everything from the meeting of Joker and Harley and that relationship evolving very quickly, not in terms of it feeling rushed, but their connection being very strong and immediate. And I thought Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga had great chemistry. Lady Gaga, of course, is amazing in this. I wish she had more to do with the non musical numbers. I wish more than anything, we could have had a stand alone Joker film, a stand alone Harley Quinn film, and then they meet. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nBut that relationship becoming \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\na little bit more complicated when, and spoilers here, when Harley reveals that she made up large amounts of what she told Joker at first because she's someone who admired him a lot when he created the rebellion or movement that he did. She checked herself into Arkham so she can meet him, and she even got an apartment in his building where he lived with his mom. Even though in reality, she comes from a wealthy family, she's a psychiatrist as we know her to be. I thought that was a very interesting sleight of hand because I thought fully, okay, they're just changing the character for this movie, which they did in some ways, but her playing with our I mean, Joker is more than anything, but our psychology of that character and what we think she is. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nThe courtroom sequence, it went on a long time. I knew going in that was pretty long. You never know how that's gonna go, \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nbut I thought it was very involving. I thought that there was a lot of variety. There was a lot of interesting discussions. The reveal of Arthur Fleck and his mom, and his mom was very abusive to him as a child, which we didn't really know \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nin the first film. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nHis doctor saying the government, the city put Arthur Fleck back in the home with his mom, with his abuser, and so that that abuse would then continue, which makes the relationship between the two of them even that much stranger considering it's like almost like Stockholm Syndrome. Reintroductions of all the characters who he ran into in the first film, like the coworker who he killed the other guy in front of him. That was a very enlightening sequence when he's on the stand. Same thing with Zazie Beetz and their stories in some ways being discredited, but then others being exactly on point. One of the most unexpected and very, very funny is when Arthur Fleck represents himself, and he puts on the southern accent, plays this very traditional hoity toity lawyer, and it's really so ridiculous, but he sells it so well. It was hard to even pay that much attention to what they're saying because I was enjoying that performance so much. Jumping to the end real quick, I know a lot of people do not like the ending. My wife, for one, does not like the ending either. I didn't know what the ending was gonna be. I was expecting it to be something in the vein of this, so it didn't really shock \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nme. The progression of the ending, the \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nexplosion at the courthouse, then Arthur gets out. He's with people who worship him and are trying to help him, \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nbut then he gets out because he wants to go see Harley, and he does. Harley, who we had already seen walking out of the courtroom because Joker says while he's there, I'm just Arthur Fleck. I'm not Joker. I killed those people. I wish I hadn't, but here we are. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nThat hit me because it's showing as opposed to what the first one did, which shows Arthur Fleck mainly as a hero, \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nnot really a pure hero, but a hero to a lot of people within the movie. This says, screw you. Joker is not a real thing. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nBut that upsets Harley because she's still very much living in her own fantasy, and that's why she loved Joker at the beginning. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nAnd she says, well, if you're not living this fantasy anymore, I'm out of here. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nAnd the whole thing of her being pregnant, I could easily see that being a total lie just to appease Joker at the time. Then he gets caught by the police once again, put back in Arkham, and the final sequence is him having a visitor. He's walking down a hallway, and one of the other inmates basically says, you failed me as this idol, as this Joker figure who was gonna lead the world or lead all the underappreciated people into the light, and you've ruined everything now that you've said you're just Arthur. And he stabs him repeatedly, and Arthur dies. What makes that work so well for me is that we see in the background when Arthur is bleeding out, the guy who stabbed him is carving up his face, and he's starting to laugh maniacally. I'm guessing that's presuming, okay, he's gonna be the next quote unquote Joker. We've had so many variations and reinterpretations, and that's why Joker is so fascinating is you can do whatever you want with them, and you're not inherently wrong. When the first film was announced, it was said that, okay, this is not the origin or, like, true origin of the Joker. It's in its own little world of DC. It shows you in a very tragic way, but a very truthful way to me, of the insignificance of Arthur Fleck to the idea of Joker. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nIt could be anyone. Just as it's expressed in \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nthe first film when he leads this rebellion, and there are all these people around him wearing the masks, wearing the makeup. They look exactly like him. They're doing the exact same thing. So the name Arthur Fleck will probably be very soon forgotten in the big scheme of things in this world because all those people who are acting out just want a leader to follow. They don't care if it's Arthur Fleck, specifically. Sure, they might see him as an icon or something, but the next guy, he's probably gonna do something even crazier and do more outlandish things and set his own dark legacy. And just the fact that that final moment was so quiet. Yeah, the explosion and everything is a big more climactic moment and the chase through the streets and all that. As for the singing itself, I know Lady Gaga said it took me a long time to try and not sound like me or like Lady Gaga. She definitely accomplished that. She even her physical look does not really remind me that much of Lady Gaga. Sometimes when I hear the voice, there are little notes that she can't escape from being recognizable as her. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nJoaquin Phoenix, who \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nreminded me a little bit of Johnny Depp in that he has that rugged, guttural kind of singing that's for sure, has some range, but there are some issues, not in a bad way. It just feels more raw and authentic as Joker would be if he was singing. Some of the standout musical numbers when Harley and Joker try and escape, and Arkham is on fire and they're running towards the gate. When they're on the rooftop and it's very blue and there's that kind of La La Land esque set. The Joker and Harley Quinn show that looks like the Murray show from the first one, and it's them bouncing off of each other and making the audience laugh as well as the moment of violence when she shoots him, and that comes back around when he's stabbed at Arkham, and they're speaking through the glass, and suddenly she just starts singing and dancing in her little booth. And I think that there's comedy there. You know, I think that there's a self awareness of what they're doing because of how they shoot certain numbers in terms of some wide shots, some close ups. It feels like, okay, we know that this is ridiculous and not real. Probably my favorite, I think, because of just how deranged and crazy it is. And also, it looks great, but it's a really unhinged moment where I think you see the most inner workings of Joker and Harley is the courtroom number. Harley is dancing on the table. She's putting the blood across her lips. Joker is smashing the judge's head in with a mallet, then puts the gun up to his head, fires, and there's that blood spurt, and then it cuts back to reality. I kinda reminiscent of Elvis I got when they're at the jazz club, I think it is, and he's tap dancing. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nThe solo number with Harley, putting on the makeup in the mirror. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nThe opening with the classic Looney Tunes cartoon segment that's very r rated and bloody, but then it cuts back to Arkham, and that's how it opens. Honestly, I just couldn't say enough about and I'll talk about some more specifics in a little bit. But I just thought that there's so much ambition and artistry and thoughtfulness with this, trying to do something different. And I know I'm in the minority, but very much pulling most of it off. I haven't really seen anything like this before. I know that this will also be a hot take, and I'm not trying to crap on it. I will always take even though I liked this other movie, I will always take a flawed ambitious film like Joker two over something like Deadpool and Wolverine. I liked Deadpool and Wolverine. There's nothing wrong with that kind of film. But in terms of ones that stick with me, that I think about, that I'm wanting to re experience, revisit, Joker two very much goes into that category. Something like Deadpool and Wolverine, obviously, did very well. It's a crowd pleaser. It's entertaining. It's funny, and I will do the whole trilogy when it comes out on Disney, so keep an eye out for that in the next couple of months. But that film's intention is, for better and for worse, is to pander and to give the utmost full fan service to the people who love Deadpool. It's all callbacks to other movies, to failed projects, to cameos. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nJoker two, I can't stop thinking about. I feel like the more I think about it, the more I like it, \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nand the more I wish other people liked it or more people liked it. It's hard to even say which one I like more. I like them both for \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\ndifferent reasons. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nIf I had to choose right now, I think I would say Joker two over Joker one. Also, circling back around to people criticizing the plot, what plot is there in the first one? \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nThat's why both are very interesting character pieces. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nCharacter pieces are oftentimes without a lot of plot because it's obviously focusing on the character. The first one is him feeling neglected, abused, underappreciated. He meanders through his life, odd jobs, bad relationships, and then becomes his own version of Joker. So I don't really understand that point of view. And, yes, they do go back over things from the first, but that doesn't really excuse the first one for not having a plot either. It may be more linear, but that doesn't mean it has more of a plot. Otherwise, performances are very good across the board. Catherine Keener, Steve Coogan is in there for a little bit. Brendan Gleeson was an unexpected surprise right before Joker goes to see the movie at the beginning, and there's that guy wanting him to sign the book. And then he says, this will be worth a lot when Joker fries, and Joker then writes, I hope you get cancer on the cover. I know that there's other things I'm forgetting, I'm sure, but this is \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\ndefinitely one of my favorites of the year, one of my favorite recent comic book films of, I'd say, the last four or five years easily. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nIf you've heard the criticisms, go check it out for yourself. Make your own decision. Don't go in wanting to hate it or wanting to love it. Just go in knowing it's a musical \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nand see how it goes. \n\n[Henry Faherty]:\nI wish I had been able to see it in IMAX. I think that would have been awesome, but sadly did not get a chance to. That one is a heavy four and a half. Could be a five one day, but for now let's go four and a half out of five. \n\n