After its October 4 release, Joker: Folie a Deux is facing trouble at the box office. Post-release, the film has earned poor reviews from audiences and critics, despite earning a 12-minute standing ovation during its original debut at the Venice Film Festival.
The movie follows Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), better known as the Joker, as he meets Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga) during his incarceration at Arkham State Hospital for his crimes. During the love affair, Fleck discovers his love for music and the pair sing and dance all around Gotham City in this jukebox musical.
The original record-breaking film slaughtered at the box office, earning over 1 billion dollars in revenue, over 19 times more than its 55-million-dollar production budget. In its opening weekend, the film earned over 247 million worldwide. Joker 2 has yet to even come close to these numbers, only making 121 million in its worldwide debut. Its earnings are projected to decrease even further during the post-release of Terrifier 3.
The film’s ratings have undoubtedly contributed to its tame opening weekend, with the film receiving a 33% critic’s review from Rotten Tomatoes. Surprisingly, the audience reviews are even lower at a daunting 31%.
One critic wrote, “The joke’s on us. Promising twice as much star power as the frantic 2020 Oscar competitor, Joker, the musical sequel Joker: Folie a Deux is half as entertaining and three times more irritating.”
Todd Phillip’s musical twist is likely a part of the viewer’s disappointment, with many complaining that this choice deferred too much from the tone of the original film. Some critics even said that the addition of music didn’t necessarily add anything to the story.
The online discourse around the film finds audiences leaving mixed reviews, with some loving the direction of the new film, and criticizing fans of the original for wanting the Joker to remain a stagnant character. Though Fleck is depicted as the Joker, Phillip’s depiction has always differed greatly from the comic book Joker fans are used to. He’s not completely deranged and violent, but rather a mix of dejected, sad and a little pathetic. In the second film, Fleck delves even further into his inner turmoil and appears to be less self-righteous and vengeful, instead recognizing the evil forces playing inside of him. Instead of his epic rise to villainy in the first film, the end of Joker 2 sees Fleck reject his Joker identity.
Viewers were disappointed by this decision, questioning why Phillips turned the character on its head to interrogate society’s (and fans’) reactions to Fleck’s mental decline. But the pushback begs the question: why does Gotham, and the viewers themselves, want to encourage a struggling character like the Joker to go batshit?
It seems like viewers want the Joker to remain violent and vindicated, rather than to recognize his own flaws and atone for them. Phillips seems to be not only critiquing lovers of the Joker in Gotham City, but also Joker fans who dangerously missed the purpose of the original film. The Joker isn’t a righteous victim of society — he’s a mentally deranged individual whose circumstances haven’t helped him get better.
Some fans remain steadfast in their defense of the film, claiming it as a “cult classic” in the making, and rejecting the influx of online hate against the film.
Critics and viewers alike may not like the film, but it seems that most of the criticisms are not performance-based, but simply a distaste for Phillip’s directional changes. However, this film was never intended to perfectly embody the beloved DC Joker — it has always been an interrogation of Fleck’s mental health and society at large.
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