With Joker 2 being announced, including a title reveal and the potential casting of
Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, it seems they are going full steam ahead on a sequel to the
oscar winning film.
And while many of us don't think that a sequel to Joker is necessary, I think there are a
few reasons to be excited and why this film may actually turn out to be pretty good.
In this video essay, I'm going to be discussing
why Joker 2 can be good amongst all of the doubt that has been shared towards a film
that originally was supposed to be a one and done.
But before I get into it, if you want to keep
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But without further a do, lets dive into the reasons why Joker 2 can be good.
So in my previous video on Joker Folie A Deux last week, I broke down the news surrounding
the sequel being announced, it's title and the potential reported addition of Lady Gaga
as Harley Quinn.
I said that I was actually quite on board with the idea even though I recognised that
doing a sequel to a film that was a one-off and felt complete, could turn out quite
badly.
But I also said that I wanted to address my extended thoughts towards why I think it can
work in a seperate video.
So the obvious first thing to address, is that while the
original Joker felt like a standalone artistic endeavour into the complex madness behind
one of the biggest villains in pop culture, it also was a huge success.
On a small budget of about $55 million it made nearly $1.1 billion in
return and that meant it resulted in one of the buggest budget to profit ratios in cinematic
history.
People loved the original Joker and on paper it seems a no-brainer that you make
a sequel if you were Warner Bros.
But we've seen studios before capatilise on big properties and milk them dry to the point
where it becomes solely a business endeavour and not one directed
through trying to make a better sequel with a purpose.
Look at what Disney have done with Star Wars for instance and it's recent sequels.
But with Joker 2 we've quite the different situation.
We've got an actor like Joaquin Phoenix who is notoriously known for only signing up to
projects after reading the script and really beleiving that the story and characters involved
can be an artistic endeavour of meaning and true cinema.
Not in a million years after watching that original Joker film would I predict
that Joaquin would be on board to do a sequel.
But last week they posted an image of him actually reading the script, all but confirming
that he has a big interest to return.
To me that says that this is more than just a cash grab
sequel if an actor like Joaquin Phoenix is considering to return and has actually read
the script.
Then you've got the same writters as the original in Scott Silver and Todd Philips,
with a likely return for other production workers too.
Look at how Wonder Woman 1984 had Patty Jenkins write and direct the script to that film
because they liked what she did with the directing on the first one.
And that resulted in a sequel that was pretty bad if I had to be honest, having those working
in areas that wern't of their expertise.
But Joker 2 seems to be sticking with it's original writers, it's original director and
again, an actor who only signs on to projects, if he believes the script and story
is good.
Now if we consider that they are adding Lady Gaga, an actress who in her two recent films
has prooved that she can actually act and pull off great performances, then it kind
of excites me for a different take on this beloved
character of Harley Quinn.
Think about how Joaquin gave us a very unique take on the Joker in the original film and
then think about, well what if this new script calls for a unique
take on Harley Quinn.
She played two vastly different characters in A Star Is Born and House Of Gucci, and
while you may like or dislike those films, I think her performances have stood
in both as being pretty good ones.
And her role in A Star Is Born got her an Oscar nomination for her performance too.
She's shown range in a successful way, and add on that she can also
sing really well, and doing a musical sequel to Joker, seems right up her alley.
So just based on those early points, while Joker 2 on paper
as a sequel sounds ridiculous and isn't needed, It can work if done right.
And this is where I come to my main point.
Joker Folie A Deux sounds like a unique comic book film.
While we can argue that the original was very inspired by Taxi Driver and the King Of
Comedy, it was clear that the first film was unique for the kind of film it was within
the comic book genre.
Joker worked because at the time, 90% of comic book films were very similar
in their conventions, and I guess you could argue they still are to a degree.
But Joker was quite a breath of fresh air.
A psychological character study on a man degrading in society,
eventually becoming a cold blooded killer and laughing in the face of those he felt
abused by.
It was disturbing, challenging and then eventually violent, and it made for a different
comic book film in a landscape which traditionally gives us heroes fighting villains with superpowers,
over and over again.
Don't get me wrong I like when a more conventional superhero
film actually has a good story and delivers a spectacle that's worth the big screen presentation,
but having a film like Joker now and again is really great to see.
And now with the announcement of Joker 2, were getting what
seems to be a psychological journey into the musical genre.
When this was announced, a lot of people online quickly jumped to the conclusion
that a musical is cheerful and that this seems absolutely terrible.
But what needs to be kept in mind is that this is Joker's take on a musical.
So were likely going to be getting something quite disturbing within the frameworks
of the musical genre.
While I haven't seen the script or know exactly which route Todd Phillips is taking, after
watching the first film and seeing some of the iconic musical moments
in that, whether it be the dancing descent down the stairs or the bathroom dance after
he murders someone in cold blood or even the moments
where he's dancing while holding a gun in his living room, I'd put good money on this
being a darker take on the musical genre.
Think of Sweeney Todd or Cabaret from 1972 as musical
examples.
This should be a completely new type of musical and a completely different type of film for
the comic book genre.
Again, it all depends on the script and the central story, but
with the hints of a musical in the first film and now with them fully embarking on that
road with the sequel in a film that interogates the clown prince of crime and Harley Quinn,
it makes me quite excited.
This can essentially be a standalone film on it's own and not just a conventional sequel.
And based on the genre of choice, the new character involved, the
script's title, and the return of Joaquin, I think that's very much the route they are
taking.
It would bring us back to that first point of why Phoenix and the crew would return to
make a Joker 2.
This film can be completely familar in a sense that it continues the journey of Arthur Fleck,
yet completely different with a new musical coat of paint.
And yet you can also introduce comic storylines and play on the traditional bond between the
Joker and Harley Quinn in a fresh way.
In a way that sticks to this adaptation's more artistic
and psychological take on DC characters.
In the DC Comics, Harley Quinn is the Joker’s psychiatrist whilst he is held at the Arkham
Asylum mental institution and the pair fall in
love and enter an abusive on-off relationship.
And at the end of 2019's Joker, the central character is being held at Arkham State Hospital
having commited the brutal murder of multiple figures, including that of Murray on the late
night talk show.
But as Joaquin Phoenix stated in his interview back in 2019, there's so many ways you can
look into this madness and it presents for multiple opportunities to pull
and tugg at it from different perspectives.
He said "there’s so many different ways of looking at it.
You can either say he’s somebody who, like everybody, needed to be heard and understood
and to have a voice.
Or you can say this is somebody that disproportionately needs a large quantity of people to be fixated
on him.
His satisfaction comes as he stands in amongst
the madness."
And with Folie à deux being French for madness for two and suggesting a shared delusion,
this can provide a deep dive into how both Joaquin's Joker and Gaga's Quinn see
the madness they personify and stand within.
Maybe using the conventions of the musical genre we see a Harley who is in the process
of transforming into the Quinn we know and we
see the perspectives of that madness from both angles.
All while Arthur Fleck is at a point where he cannot escape the madness all around him.
Arthur could be completely gone, and the Joker is here to stay by the end.
But I'm sure that whatever route Phillips and co take that it will be much more nuanced
and full of commentary on the societal frameworks and individual
delusion that stems from the madness they share.
And again, I just think the simple idea of showing this next step through the lens of
a different genre makes this film have the potential
to be as different as the first when thinking about the state of the comic book genre.
For all we know it could turn out to be terrible and prove the naysayers right about this being
a bad idea and a sequel that doesn't need to happen.
But I think we should give it a chance now that we know that it's going to have a
different direction with the addition of an actress who is quickly prooving her talent
from project to project.
After all, Todd Philips did produce her oscar nominated role in A Star Is
Born, so he has connections with the talent he's bringing on board.
We'll have to see, but I do think that Joker 2 can be a good film, that like the first,
suprises people once it's seen.
The trailer may be a good indicator of that, and when we hear more about the plot, we'll
begin to get a better idea of what kind of film they are making.
But that was my video discussing why Joker 2 can work.
Like I said, I think Joker Folie A Deux can be an intriguing new genre film that continues
this story rather then just act as a conventional sequel that we see more than
often.
And again, Musical doesn't mean that it cannot be a darker deepdive like the first one was
as a solo character study.
It could also work as it's own standalone film all while continuing
the story of Arthur Fleck and showing his shared madness with Gaga's version of Harley
Quinn.
I guess at the end of the day we'll have to see and for all we know, this could
be a bad decision.
But going in, I think that Philips, Phoenix, Gaga and all the people involved who also
worked on the original Joker, are those who will try their best to create a
unique film out of this already written script.
And for them to sign on, it must be pretty good.
But let me know down below in the comments section what your thoughts are towards a Joker
2 and whether you think that it can actually work.
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