PLOT: While on trial for his life, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) meets a fellow psychiatric patient named Lee (Lady Gaga), who is obsessed with the crimes he committed as Joker.
REVIEW: It’s almost comical to think now, but there was a time, shortly before Todd Phillips’s Joker opened in theaters, that critics and journalists – mostly in the online sphere – were convinced the movie was “dangerous” and that screenings of the film would incite waves of violence from the audiences whose minds would surely be warped the second they saw Joker dance down the steps to Gary Glitter’s “Rock n’Roll Part 2.” That didn’t happen, of course, with audiences getting that – yes – in the end, it’s just a movie, albeit one that grossed over a billion dollars worldwide and won an Oscar for its star.
Yet, it feels like Phillips, to some extent, might have taken some of those criticisms to heart, with Joker: Folie à Deux reframing Fleck’s tale as less a dark, psychological descent into madness and more of a tragedy about a man whose trauma made him into a monster. Granted, there was some of that in the first movie, but this makes a bold attempt to distance itself from the DC Universe, setting Arthur’s story as something distinctive from the Clown Prince of Crime we know from the rest of Batman’s lore.
As such, the audience who cosplayed Joker and Harley Quinn at the screening I attended couldn’t help but look a little dejected as the credits rolled. The film lacked the same kind of impact the original movie had despite a longer, bloated running time and a much heftier budget.
Perhaps Joker was too big of a hit not to get a sequel, but watching Joker: Folie à Deux, you get the distinct feeling that this was an exercise in style for Phillips rather than a sequel that HAD to be made, with him dipping his toe into the musical genre, perhaps paving his way for him to tackle a wholly musical project as his next film. As it is, though, this Joker sequel spins its wheels and winds up being an often dull courtroom movie livened up by occasional flights of fancy into musical numbers. Those sequences are the best in the film, as without them, this would feel like a wholly unnecessary epilogue to what was originally a pretty powerful film.
Joaquin Phoenix once again delivers a strong turn as Fleck/ Joker, with him able to show off the fact that – as Walk the Line proved – he has a pretty good voice in the various numbers (which are covers of everything from Stevie Wonder to The Carpenters). Yet, he’s passive in the movie, without much opportunity to explode in the often terrifying way he did in the original, with this a surprisingly non-violent film save for one fairly grisly fantasy sequence.
Lady Gaga’s much anticipated Lee, a variation on Harley Quinn, also proves to be a disappointment, with her role feeling ultimately inconsequential despite all the build-up. She’s always had a dynamic presence on-screen, but she’s quite restrained as Lee, which is a shame as given that this is a musical sequel to Joker, one couldn’t help but hope the film would be operatic. Instead, Phillips seems to be making his own version of Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York, with the slick musical numbers punctuated by melodrama. I expected more fireworks from this star pairing, but it didn’t really pan out that way. Neither are bad, but they’re not as iconic as one would have hoped.
The vibe of the movie also seems a bit off compared to the first one, with Brendan Gleeson’s psychiatric guard feeling like he walked off the set of a 1940s gangster movie while Steve Coogan hams it up a bit as a reporter interviewing Fleck. Of the supporting cast, the only one who really impresses is Leigh Gill as one of Arthur’s former co-workers and one of the few he spared in his original rampage. The scene where he testifies in court is quite striking and is the film’s most memorable sequence.
It’s worth noting that Joker: Folie à Deux, despite being shot for IMAX, lacks any real show-stopping moments, even though DP Lawrence Sher once again contributes some striking cinematography, while Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score is good as always.
Part of me does wonder if perhaps sequels aren’t Todd Phillips’s thing, as neither Hangover sequel ever managed to recapture the magic of the original, and the same charge could be levied at this. However, the disappointing Hangover Part III paved the way for Joker, so even if Folie à Deux feels like an anticlimax, I can’t help but think Phillips has another masterpiece up his sleeve somewhere, even if this isn’t it. He’s recently said that he’s through making movies in the DC sandbox, and having seen this, perhaps it’s for the best.
