The movie “Joker 2”…more madness takes the audience’s breath away

In the first 10 minutes of the second part of the movie “Joker” (Joker: Folie à Deux), Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) comes out of his cell, bare-backed, with his bones arched, and the jailers drag him with ferocity and sarcasm, and the movie’s usual soundtrack accompanies the scene, for the audience to see. What happened to him after his arrest at the end of the first part of the film, which was released in 2019… Gradually, the character of the “Joker” who wears the broken heart, Arthur Fleck, is revealed. Did he choose this absurd mask of his own free will, or was it against his will as a result of his psychological psychosis?

This question is what the film, which was released in cinemas on Wednesday evening, is based on. It ignited a state of early controversy among the audience, which waited about 5 years for the release of the second part. The initial impressions carried a mixture of resentment and disappointment that seemed clear in the enormous amount of negative reviews, compared to what… The first part received great public approval, which director Todd Phillips did not expect at the time, especially since the fresh film included about 14 songs, to be a musical film in which Lady Gaga shared vocals with Joaquin Phoenix, in an adventure chosen by the film makers to make it significantly different from the first part.

The second part brings back to the viewer's memory the crimes committed by Arthur Fleck in killing five people, the most vital of whom was the eminent broadcaster Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), who appeared with him in a live television interview, making it a live crime witnessed by the audience, the residents of Gotham (a fictional American city). ) on television broadcast, and from here the value of the trial that dominates the atmosphere of the second part increases, and the film calls it “The Trial of the Century.”

Because in the first part of “Joker,” the character of Arthur Fleck was transformed from a miserable and depressed man into a symbol of chaos and riot, the second part was different, as there were no fresh transformations in the character, as if director Todd Flippis wanted to put the audience inside the skull of this disturbed person, between pain and dancing. And the singing, the mute looks, and the wild imagination, so he could return to opening the ancient files inside the court, recalling what happened and questioning the witnesses, to decide on the ruling. Either Arthur Fleck would be executed, or his mental illness would be confirmed, which would reduce his sentence.

Trial scenes dominate most of the atmosphere of the second part (Instagram of the film)

Confused love

The fresh film was full of incomplete ideas, including the love story of Arthur Fleck and the blonde Lee (Lady Gaga). Since they met in a music therapy class, the secret of this rapid attraction between them was not understood, and when the truth about “Lee” becomes clear, the film turns to more mysteries, as Her true motives for pursuing Arthur were not made clear, and the viewer was not sure whether she was also crazy like him or if she was exploiting him for something, or perhaps most of the scenes that brought them together were just fantasies in Arthur Fleck's head.

Despite the few scenes of Lady Gaga or “Lee” in the film, her role relatively changed Arthur’s personality, as she appeared fleetingly and suddenly in the challenging moments he lived, simulating his madness, praising his difference, and showing her admiration for him, to become his fresh comfort zone, in which he feels secure. And confidence, which made it easier for him to abandon the “Joker” character, which was the shock that made his fans turn into enemies, so the film moved towards an ending that was very expressive of these feelings revolting against him.

A turbulent relationship between Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in the film (Instagram of the film)

The jailer and the lawyer

The character of the sadistic jailer (Brendan Gleeson), and the scenes that brought him together with Arthur Fleck were the strongest in the movie. One hour he taunts him, then offers him some casual kindness, and then he insults him directly, as if reminding him that his work powers – as a jailer – allow him to give and take without care. What the other party feels, and this type of personality is the one that Arthur Fleck submitted to without any resistance, because he is able to manipulate him continuously.

In contrast, Catherine Keener played the role of the lawyer with perfection and great sympathy, especially when Arthur kissed her quickly as a result of the momentary ecstasy he felt. The seconds separating the lawyer’s reaction and her behavior were confusing, as if what had happened had actually shocked her. This astonishment explained her complete belief in the duality that It combined two characters: the dashing “Arthur Fleck” and the absurdist “The Joker.” It was as if she remembered that the person in front of her was a disturbed person, so there was no need to take his actions seriously.

Many songs were presented in the second part, with dance performances of some of them (Instagram of the film)

It seems that director Todd Flippis predicted early on that a enormous segment of the audience would feel disappointed with Arthur Fleck's defeatist character, as he embodied this in the scene at the end of the trial, with the Joker admitting the enormity of what he did when he killed five people in the first part (the sixth of whom was his mother, whom he muffled with a hospital pillow). He was confessing his brokenness and pain, which made his fans crowded inside the court withdraw angrily. It was not this Joker whom they admired and his rebellion, but rather another person who let them down and disappointed them, and thus they lost their support for him, and even Lee, who was defending him, abandoned him, protesting his behavior. Defeatist.

Despite the great effort that Joaquin Phoenix made to lose weight and return to the character of the troubled Arthur Fleck, the absence of many elements of his character in the fresh film, including the disappearance of the compulsive laughter that Arthur Fleck suffered from, as he barely laughed two or three times in the second part, in a way that seems Painful, but not repetitive, as is his usual character. In addition to his tendency to sing in several scenes, the director did not leave this task to Lady Gaga alone, but rather Phoenix participated in singing with her, and he did not sing at all in the first part, which made the matter seem confusing to the character of the Joker that the audience knew.

However, there are prior cinematic expectations that the film will achieve good revenues at the box office, especially after the first part of it generated more than a billion dollars, becoming the first film rated “R” – that is, only suitable for adults – that was able to achieve this. The enormous amount.