“Joker: Folie à Deux” has had a lot of discourse surrounding it. The sequel to a billion-dollar movie, it was highly anticipated leading up to its debut. I think it’s fair to say that it did not live up to the hype.
I liked the first “Joker” movie. I thought that it was a gripping origin story of a tragic villain who had never had one up until that point. “Joker: Folie à Deux,” on the other hand, is aimless in terms of the script and, for a supervillain movie, has a glaring lack of supervillainy.
Warner Bros.’ “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which was released in theaters on Oct. 4, follows Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix, reprising his role from the first film) as he stands trial for the crimes he committed in the first film. Along the way, he meets an Arkham Hospital patient, Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga), and falls in love with her.
The first “Joker” has a clear endpoint in mind. The script aims to show us how constant mistreatment by society can drive a man to madness. The problem with “Folie à Deux” is that we already know that he’s crazy. The movie doesn’t offer anything new on that front.
Phoenix’s performance in “Joker” allowed audiences to sympathize with him. In “Folie à Deux,” Fleck barely talks at all, so his motivations are difficult to understand. Also, when he does talk, what he says is often nonsense. The end result is that I don’t know how the movie is supposed to make me feel about Fleck.
The first “Joker” showed us the complete rise of Fleck, from being a hapless party clown to becoming a killer and citywide icon. Fleck’s end goal in “Folie à Deux” is not clear. I don’t know if he wants to get out of jail or not, and it’s not explained why he would decide to represent himself and then not even try to defend himself.
The ending of the movie also comes out of nowhere. They could have added some more foreshadowing there.
My other main problem with “Folie à Deux” is the lack of supervillainy. “Joker” understood that, even if it wasn’t bound by its superhero trappings, you have to let supervillains be supervillains. The most evil thing Fleck does in this movie is fire his lawyer. I didn’t expect to see Batman or anything, but if a movie has “Joker” in the title, I want to see the Joker be the Joker.
The Joker is one of the most diabolical villains in comic books and superhero movies. Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger’s portrayals of the character are still talked about today because of how evil they were. I wanted to see Fleck detonate a bomb, or stab someone with a pen.
“Joker” was very polarizing when it came out, but Phoenix was generally seen as a highlight of the film. While I found Phoenix’s performance in this movie underwhelming compared to the first film, Gaga’s performance was good. I don’t think she ruined the film as some people on Twitter have opined; rather, I thought she enhanced it by making Quinzel as enigmatic as Fleck.
Gaga’s performance also shines through in the musical elements of the movie. These elements were also controversial among reviewers, but I didn’t mind them. I think they were executed well, though I think at least a couple songs would have been better as rock ballads rather than the 1950s show tune style that they went with.
The soundtrack is also good. I enjoyed the uses of King Harvest’s “Dancing in the Moonlight” and Billy Joel’s “My Life.”
“Joker: Folie à Deux” is underwhelming. Sometimes, a movie stands on its own. You don’t need a last joke.
