Writer/Director Todd Phillips returns for the follow-up to his 2019 hit film Joker, a film that went on to become the biggest R-rated movie of all time at the box office and won a slew of awards, the long-gestating sequel is finally here to tell the next chapter in the Joker, but not really the Joker you are thinking of, it is an origin story of Arthur Fleck and how he influenced Gotham to rise up against the societal norms as the city lays in ruin, run by the rich. After the previous movie finished with Arthur Fleck in jail, this sequel picks up two years later and seemingly attempts to offer an insight into Arthur’s mental health. His new lawyer tries to spin that his personality has fractured and childhood abuse led to the creation of the Joker persona responsible for the horrific murders, or is it all Arthur? This is an interesting premise and could have been explored well, unfortunately, the unwillingness of the director to find a genre and stick to it, causes the film to feel as fractured as Arthur Fleck’s personality.
Folie a Deux picks up two years after the events of the first film. Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is locked up in Arkham Asylum awaiting a psychiatric assessment to determine if he can stand trial for the murders he committed. Every day he is accosted by a group of guards led by Brendon Gleeson who try to get Arthur to tell a good joke, while torturing and degrading him. While walking through the prison one day, Arthur sees Harleen “Lee” Quinel singing in a room, she chases him down the hall and does the signature finger gun to the head motion from the first film. Arthur is suddenly pulled out of his isolation and his Joker persona comes back to life.
After being deemed fit for trial, Arthur Fleck stands trial with Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) leading the prosecution. Arthur struggles with his Joker persona and convincing the jury that Joker is responsible for the murders and not Arthur Fleck. This is all encouraged by Harleen (Lady Gaga) who falls in fast love with the Joker and hatches a plan for the pair to run away together and build a mountain.
The film has been presented as a musical, and the casting of Lady Gaga cemented hopes that this would be a fully-fledged superhero musical. Disappointingly this is not the case. The musical sequences feel half-baked, meant to symbolise the growing romantic obsession between Harleen and Arthur, while providing an escape from the reality of his bleak existence in prison. While these scenes do provide some sense of hope in a really bleak and depressing story, it doesn’t commit to it enough to be an effective part of the film’s story. My biggest complaint here is casting Lady Gaga in a film and having Joaquin Phoenix sing more than she does. Phoenix isn’t bad per se, just not the main attraction for the musical performances here. It feels unnecessarily restrained, almost scared to go all out and the transition between these musical numbers and the courtroom drama can’t help but give this a feeling of having an identity crisis.
The first half of the story desperately wants to explore Arthur Fleck’s psyche and explore his mental illness to determine if the Joker is a fragmented part of his mind that heralds back to the abuse in his childhood. The musical numbers and fantasy in his mind are designed to be a manifestation of this, it is a shame that the film abandons this about halfway through, intent on having an explosive final act that ultimately means nothing. Gaga’s Harleen is horrendously underutilised here, her screen time barely edges out 30 minutes in this 2-and-a-half-hour bloated mess. While her scenes do make an impact and she does deliver one of her best performances, even with the limited material she has been given. It still very much is a Joker film with Phoenix delivering a great duality of the withdrawn Arthur Fleck and over-confident Foghorn Leghorn style Joker character who really comes alive in the courtroom.
I am glad that this confusing era of DC superhero films has finally come to an end, Joker Folie a Deux marks the end of the previous management era, and with the newly formed DC Studios not endorsing or putting their logo in front of this movie, is a sure sign that their confidence in the quality of this story and how it may land with general audiences. Fans of the original film will find the tone confusing and the decision to add in half-baked musical numbers will only isolate them further. Everyone else along for the ride may suffer whiplash from the sudden tonal shifts and over-bloated run time that serves as one of the low points of DC superhero films.
The Joker is me, for believing that this sequel would be any good.
**Putting the theme song to Kath & Kim (The Joker by Shirley Bassey) as a musical number will no doubt have Australian audiences giggling as Phoenix attempts to deliver a sobering rendition in a serious part of the film is no fault of the filmmakers, but definitely takes you out of the film.
Joker: Folie à Deux is in Australian cinemas now. Watch our video review below
