The infamous Joker makes his way back on the big screen after five long years of waiting. The new Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to Joker that came out in 2019. Both movies are directed by Todd Phillips.
Playing the Joker is Joaquin Phoenix, who won multiple acting awards for the first film, Joker, which also won awards and scored well in the box office.
Joker: Folie à Deux takes place about two years after the first movie. It starts out with the Joker having a different appearance than he does at the end of the first movie. At the end of the first movie, he is seen dancing as the people around him destroyed Gotham City. The new movie starts off with Joker — or what everyone calls him now, Arthur Fleck — in jail. He looks thin and hardly talks.
Not too long into the film, Arthur meets Harley Quinn (played by Lady Gaga) for the first time. In the Batman and Joker comics, Harley Quinn is the Joker’s sidekick and love interest.
The thing with Harley is that she is always trying to prove her love to Joker. She also pushes him to become Joker once again. One of the first ways she tries to show that he is the Joker is by setting the prison on fire so they can run away. It makes Arthur start to rethink who he is but he still does not want to believe in the Joker that is inside of him.
It is soon time for the Joker’s trial. He is charged with five counts of homicide, one of which occurred on live TV in the first film. The whole reason that Fleck became Joker is that he viewed the wealthy as having taken advantage of poor people like himself. When he said all that on live TV and then murdered the man, it started riots.
Over two years later, when Arthur is pulling into the courthouse, he is met with a huge amount of supporters. Even when he walks into the courtroom, it is filled with his supporters cheering him on.
The case Arthur’s lawyer makes is that he is mentally unstable and has a split personality.
After the first day of trial, Harley comes to talk to him and she convinces his that he is not really Arthur. The real him is the Joker. The next day in the middle of the trial, Arthur stands up and says that he is firing his lawyer and the Joker is going to represent him.
It does not last for long because even though he shows up to court dressed as the Joker and he acts like the Joker, in the final statements he says there is no Joker — there is only Arthur Fleck. As the jury reads the verdict, proclaiming him guilty, a bomb goes off and blows up the side of the courthouse. Arthur walks out and goes to find Harley. When he finds her, she tells him that she doesn’t love Arthur — she loves the Joker.
There is more to the plot, but you’ll have to see for yourself just how twisted the story becomes.
The movie, however, does have its share of downfalls. It breaks into song seemingly every five minutes, which doesn’t seem right for a serious movie. It is also very slow-paced, without the abundant action that viewers may expect. While I did not particularly love the film as a whole, I loved the ending. And if it leads toward another sequel, I can’t wait.
