I’ll be honest, when I first heard a film simply called Joker was being made by the same director as The Hangover Trilogy, I thought, “HA! It’ll be a modest success. Three hundred million worldwide box office. Tops.” But when the film arrived in theaters, I must’ve been one out of millions who were genuinely shocked with the film’s critical, and astoundingly financial success. It was a kind of shock that the world of cinema needed but was not asking for. The film even caused its own controversy to be an important element of its success.
Director Todd Phillips and actor Joaquin Phoenix put all their artistic worth into the making of Joker with total disregard of how the film would be received by everyone else. It was an experimental film in the comic book movie genre no one was asking for, with a story where there was no hero, but only a common man descending into the madness of a villain.
As the credits began rolling when I first watched the film, I thought that there was no need for a sequel. I had heard from news sources that Todd Phillips did not originally intend to make a follow-up. That he intended to start a kind of film trend of psychological, character-driven stories about the villains within the DC Universe. But when I recently learned Todd Phillips was hired to co-write a possible Joker 2, I had a thought that goes all the way back to when I first heard Joker was being made:
“HA! Of course Warner wants a sequel, all they want is another billion dollar profit in their hands.”
But wait, if I have low expectations for a Joker 2 the same as I had low expectations for a Joker movie directed by “The Hangover Guy,” maybe I should just sit back, put on a happy face, and wait for what comes to fruition. Let’s face it, did everyone think The Godfather Part II would be as good as The Godfather back in the day? I don’t think so.
Below is a fun fan-edited movie trailer for Joker: Part II.
