It’s wild to me that Todd Phillips’ Joker was
released nearly five years ago but, then again, it’s been a wild five years. Given
its dark subject matter, it’s not a film I’ve revisited often over the years –
I think I’ve only seen it once more at home since its theatrical run – I’ve always
appreciated Joaquin Phoenix’s excellently nuanced portrayal of Arthur Fleck, a
failed comedian whose own struggles with reality make him an unreliable
narrator. What’s real? What isn’t? Who is truly the villain? Lots of questions,
no real answers. Is it a tad derivative of Martin Scorsese? At times. But there’s a
lot of craftsmanship there, too.
Given Joker’s tenuous-at-best connection with the larger
Batman mythos (it takes place in Gotham, the Wayne family lives there, and a
murderous clown winds up in an asylum called Arkham), it didn’t seem like it was
laying the foundation for a franchise. Yet, here we are, with Joker: Folie à
Deux teaming Phoenix’s Fleck with Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn … or at least a version
of Harley that’s apparently an inmate at Arkham when Joker meets her and not a
psychiatrist like in most iterations of the character. But, hey, like the original,
this is its own thing and picking nits is annoying.
The trailer for Phillips’ Joker sequel is out, and it
looks unhinged. From apparent musical numbers to wanton destruction to Lady
Gaga being, well, Lady Gaga, this is one that we’re going to be talking a LOT
about when it arrives in theaters October 4.
Check out the trailer below!
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