top of page
George Burkert

'Joker: Folie à Deux' Review: A Disappointing Sequel


Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures


Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to the 2019 film Joker, once again directed by Todd Phillips. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, and Brendan Gleeson. It’s been two years since Arthur Fleck as the Joker killed Murray Franklin and got placed in Arkham Asylum. Fleck meets Harleen Quinzel and falls in love with her as he prepares for his court case. There is a big question as to whether or not the Joker is a separate personality from Fleck. Many people believed a sequel was unnecessary. At the same time, people were curious to see what Phillips and his crew came up with. Well, it’s safe to say Joker: Folie à Deux is a big disappointment.


The best thing about this film is the acting performances. Joaquin Phoenix is still great at portraying Arthur Fleck. He captures the conflict he is going through well. Lady Gaga as Harleen is great as well. She’s also in Arkham and is obsessed with the Joker, encouraging him to embrace it. She carries the musical numbers and the best part about them. Another standout performance is Brendan Gleeson as an abusive Arkham guard named Jake Sullivan. Gleeson does well in pretending to be this nice guard who is another jerk who treats Arthur and the other inmates horribly.


The film is well made in regards to cinematography. There are not any bad shots in this movie. The costumes look great, as well as the makeup for Joker and Harleen. Like the first film, the 1980s setting in Gotham, particularly in Arkham, and the courthouse look good. The settings for the musical numbers are well-designed. The first half of the movie starts in Arkham and sets things up nicely, although not always smooth. There is also a neat Looney Tunes-style cartoon at the beginning of the film that is well-animated.


The big issue with Joker: Folie à Deux is the story. The story feels like it’s all over the place, in comparison to the first movie. Most of the musical numbers ended up being disappointing. The settings and costumes for those moments look great, but the results are disappointing. As mentioned before, the first half of the movie is fine, but once it gets to the courtroom stuff, the film takes a turn for the worse. It feels like a basketball game where a team is up by around six points at halftime but then during the second half of the game, the winning team makes a poor decision and the team loses the lead, continuing to make poor decisions that they could never come back from.


Another issue is all these genres are mixed into the film and shouldn’t be combined. Where Joker from 2019 was a great blend of Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, Joker Folie à Deux is a scatterbrained mess of elements from La La Land, Chicago, A Few Good Men, My Cousin Vinny, and The Shawshank Redemption with little teases of Bonnie and Clyde that ultimately never happens.


Despite what others say about a sequel being unnecessary, some of these ideas in the movie could work for a Joker sequel. The issue is most of them are executed poorly. For example, a musical with Joker as the main character could work but the musical numbers don’t work except for two. Lady Gaga’s great singing alone can’t save them. A courtroom drama based on Joker going on trial for his crimes could work. The courtroom stuff was fine until the movie made a decision that ultimately brought the whole thing down. The ending, without spoiling, is one of the worst endings I have seen in years. It was more disappointing to watch than frustrating.


Overall, Joker: Folie à Deux was one of the biggest disappointments I have seen in theaters. Despite the great acting, cinematography, costumes, and setting, the plot is messy. The second half had many opportunities to fix itself, but it only got worse. The musical numbers were boring except for two of them. Fans of the 2019 Joker film will be left disappointed and even frustrated. The first half did have a lot of promise, but it was not enough to save the story.


My final grade for Joker: Folie à Deux is a C. This one might be worth waiting for on streaming. What are your thoughts on Joker: Folie à Deux? Let us know in the comments below.

20 views0 comments

Comments


Post: Blog2 Post
bottom of page