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In 2019,Jokerwas a monolithic succeeder for Warner Bros. , director Todd Phillips , and Joaquin Phoenix , who went on to win an Oscar for Best Actor for his turn as Arthur Fleck / Joker . It broke records for an radius - betray motion-picture show and finished with $ 1.079 billion worldwide . With that kind of money , it ’s easy to see why Warner Bros. desire a subsequence so bad . And thus all road top toJoker 2 , which is well known asJoker : Folie à Deux . In compositor’s case you were marvel , the caption means “ madness for two , ” but there may be more than two people going unhinged at Warner Bros. over the opening weekend thatFolie à Deuxhad .
It ’s not as if there were n’t any admonition signs . Thetracking forJoker 2looked bleakwell in advance of its exit , and the early reviews were far from glowing . But after getting advertizing CinemaScorefrom the hoi polloi who have really witness it , Folie à Deuxisn’t just in worry , it ’s in freefall . The sequel grossed anestimated $ 39 million this preceding weekend , less than one-half of the $ 90 million thatJokeropened to in 2019 . And given the drear reaction to the film so far , Folie à Deuxwill be favourable to make half of that in its 2d weekend , which is fatal for a movie that reportedly be $ 190-$200 million to make .
What went wrongly withJoker 2 ? Multiple thing , and it starts at the top with the choices made by Phillips , who directed and Colorado - wroteJoker : Folie à Deux .
The sequel fundamentally misunderstands who the Joker is
Phoenix ’s portrayal of Arthur Fleck in the first moving-picture show was haunting because he was able to convincingly spiel a mentally disturbed man . But even in that motion picture , he was n’t genuinely the Joker . The comic volume personification that spawned this quality is n’t a tragic figure or some pathetic wretch hoping for understanding and understanding . The real Joker is the Clown Prince of Crime who is one of the most dangerous and dreaded villains in Gotham City . Arthur Fleck is none of those thing .
Folie à Deuxcompounds the mistakes of the original film by move Joker even further away from his core ego . Rather than letting Phoenix ’s character evolve into something skinny to the Jokers who have descend before him , the filmdevolvesArthur to his most pathetic self and never allow him come up close to being the bad guy who madeThe Dark KnightandTim Burton‘sBatmanso much playfulness to watch .
The film moves too far away from the source material
All superhero movies make changes for the big screen , and it ’s not as if the firstJokermovie was any different . The comic book Joker has no definitive pedigree or even an agree - upon real name . He ’s but pandemonium and immorality body forth . Movie fans can go with a few change , butFolie à Deuxpushed its luck too far with the flick ’s portrayal of Harley Quinn .
Lady Gaga became the second actress to play Harley on the big projection screen , but her persona greatly differs from her comic book counterpart . For one thing , Gaga ’s grapheme goes by “ Lee ” when her name is Harleen Quinzel . It ’s the same form of misguided endeavor to “ ground ” the character ’ fantastic name that ledThe Penguin‘s primary character to be called Oz Cobb in his new serial publication , rather than Oswald Cobblepot .
What ’s in a name ? It would n’t have stand out as much if Gaga ’s character had more in uncouth with Harley . or else , this variation lack the inherent tragedy of her relationship with Joker . Lee is turned into a manipulative somebody who was already deeply disturbed before she met Joker . She encourage him to be even crazy , rather than the other room around . That flip their dynamic , but it is n’t true to who they were have in mind to be as characters .
It’s a musical aimed at a non-musical audience
On a certain level , it makes sense to cast Lady Gaga in a melodious . She ’s not a bang-up actress , but she is a great singer . Why then , does the flick on the face of it go out of its way to make Gaga , one of popping music ’s best artists decent now , and Phoenix sound like terrible Isaac M. Singer ? Phoenix evidence he could whistle inWalk the Line , but Phillips felt it would be more credible if Arthur and Lee had trouble carrying a strain .
fan of the first movie were openly dubious about Phillips ’ design to add melodic number toJoker 2 . That may be why many of them did n’t hurry out to see the continuation . It ’s simply the wrong audience for the material . Ironically , $ 39 million would been a great opening night weekend for a musical that was n’t a comic - book movie with a bloated $ 200 million budget . And it ’s that high budget that will keep this film from breaking even or turning a profit .
Folie à Deux doesn’t deliver enough for a big-budget movie
Where did this cinema ’s nearly $ 200 million budget go ? Because it ’s really unclear onscreen how the money was used . There are some elaborate set musical composition , but nothing that free such an astronomical figure . Phoenix reportedlynabbed $ 20 million alone , but aside from him and Lady Gaga , the mold is far from an all - wizard affair .
For the kind of money thatJoker 2was made for , it ’s reasonable to ask something that could live up to that cost . There plainly is n’t anything that does though , and that might be a heist not bad than anything the Joker has ever come up with .
It can’t give fans the payoff they wanted to see
As Mark Hamill ’s Joker so aptly put it inBatman : The Animated Series , “ Without Batman , crime has no punch origin . ” Much like Sony ’s Spider - Man - less movies boast his villains — likeMorbiusand the upcomingKraven the hunting watch — Folie à Deuxfeels empty without Batman ’s presence . The firstJokermovie at least acknowledge the Waynes and have the early part of Batman ’s ancestry . The second film is nearly devoid of any mention to the Dark Knight himself .
in the end , the Joker can only go on so long by himself . He needs a Batman to react , and this film does n’t give him that suitable adversary . Even before it became clear thatFolie à Deuxwill lose a lot of money , Phillips said he was done making DC movies after this one . So there will be no Joker versus Batman movie after this , not that Arthur Fleck was ever really supervillain material . But that ’s what fans wanted , andFolie à Deux‘s inability to present that is almost its own kind of punchline . It just is n’t very peculiar .
turkey : Folie à Deuxis now playing in theaters .
