Not to defend it since I haven't seen it and won't, but isn't this kind of putting the cart before the horse? By that I mean are you just assuming they didn't care about it because you didn't like it?
"You could get in trouble for that so I'll join with you and ensure that you don't. Anyway unions are useless"
This really had me in the first hour ish and then it just squanders it all by the end. The movie hates itself and hates you and you should feel bad for watching it!
My point being there is zero evidence there was any passion put into this. It comes off as a nihilistic fuck you from Todd Phillips and Phoenix who really didn’t want to make a sequel. It doesn’t follow through on any idea that could be interesting. A nothing of a movie
I enjoyed both a lot lol. I love da movies! I’ve seen the criticism of both that they were boring and I’m not sure how someone possibly thinks that.
Reading about the plot of this film and reading about it you can almost see a decent enough idea about exploring toxic and dangerous fan worship and taking advantage of the mentally ill, and deglamourizing the kind of character the Joker is. I suppose from that perspective, a former fan murdering him in response for disillusioning them could be a fairly realistic ending.
Feel like you have to take into account superhero fatigue, the drastically shortened window between theatrical and streaming (Max and Disney+ didn’t even exist + theaters had more power to pressure studios to have movie have a lengthier stay in theaters before rentals/VOD/streaming) and that audiences haven’t completely come back or will not come back post-COVID. Plus, weak reviews.
They had a good, nuanced conversation about it on The Big Picture Podcast this week (both hosts did not like it.) I’ll say I was interested in it during the first half because of the tension between Fleck and the guards and to see where the relationship would go between Harley and Fleck. Once it becomes clear that the songs have basically no connection to the story and don’t advance it or tell is anything about the characters, it started to lose me. And once the prison guards assault Fleck and kill his friend then I’m out. Phillips is far too lazy and cynical of a director and co-writer to handle this material with any kind of texture that’s not “The world sucks. Fuck everything.” He can’t give a character a moment of levity without it being followed up by the most horrific acts of man happening to them. It’s like “13 Reasons Why” for the most divorced men on Earth. The sad thing is he still has a great production crew and cinematographer giving their all for a movie with nothing to say.
Joker: Folie À Deux Not See This Movie Easily the second worst movie of the year so far for me, right behind Longlegs. I wasn’t a fan of the first film so I went into this with low expectations and this was still worse than I thought it would be.