10/05/2024 Joker 2 Review (spoilers)

RATING: 1.5/5

REVIEW:

TLDR: what if the joker was called the freaky and he had SEX with HARLEY QUINN!!

This movie was NOT very good, but I wanna start with what I recognized from it, and what I think it was trying to do. 

The movie centers around the court case for the joker following the first joker movie, the primary defense is trying to get him off with a plea of insanity based around the idea that he had split personality disorder and that the  "joker" is a separate entity within his head and so the actual person Arthur fleck cant be charged. 

There are a lot of people who support the "joker" who end up at this trial, people want to free him based on the idea that he is 'freeing" society. 

The movies premise is trying to get the audience to guess if the joker and Arthur fleck really are the same person or not. To support this, there are many places in the movie where the joker starts singing, these scenes are supposed to indicate to the audience that Arthur is having a "joker" moment. and we have to guess if he is just playing into the support he is getting from the public (trying to bask in his own public image) or if he is really splitting. 

This whole idea of the "joker" being a separate entity is also the main plot point between harley Quinn and the joker. Harley, in this movie, is a sociopathic women who only wants to get with the joker, she cares very little for Arthur fleck, and so we have our sides. We have Harley pushing for Joker, the defense pushing for Arthur Fleck, and Arthur himself who cannot decide between the two.

SPOILERS FOR THE END OF THE MOVIE!! At the end, Arthur reveals that there is no joker, he gives up the fantasy and turns to reality after being molested in the bathroom at Arkham asylum. This doesn't answer if there NEVER was a joker, but it is saying that the joker is dead. The court room then blows up from a car bomb, supposedly set up by Harley or someone from the crowds outside, and Arthur escapes and goes to the stairs from the first movie where he finds Harley, who tells him that now that the fantasy is dead, there is no Harley and Joker. After that, Harley walks away and Arthur goes back to prison. The next day he is told he has a visitor, but while walking to the visitor room, he is stabbed by one of the inmates who loved "the joker" and Arthur dies.

So if I got what the movie was trying to do, why didn't I like it? Well first off there are so many fucking jump cuts its hard to even tell whats happening, I actually think that shots that last more than 5 seconds are rare. 2ndly, while the cutting to the musicals to indicate a split is an interesting concept, it isn't done very well. Especially when they cut to  a whole new set with harley and joker on a stage, intended to represent the court room as they see it "a stage", but they serve very little narrative purpose outside of giving gaga more singing time. 3rdly, who the fuck IS this harley person, she is introduced so fucking quickly its insane, she seems to have access to literally anywhere plot relevant, why? how does she get into solitary confinement (implied she gave head to a guard I think, not positive), how did she get away with  large scale arson within Arkham???? it just doesn't make a lot of sense. Why is there the subplot of a baby, just to get joker more attached to her? She is an unfocused character, despite the plots insistence that she is "supposed to be an enigma" (most of what comes out of her mouth are lies) she just comes off as unfocused, mostly like the rest of this plot! the movie could have easily shaved off 20 minutes, and probably been better off for it, simply because some shots serve little reason.

On the good side, there are some really pretty shots during the film, the movie *looks* nice, at the very least.

Thats about it.