(Spoilers for the movie ahead!)
Joker: Folie á Deux is the long awaited sequel to Todd Philips’ first Joker film that was released in 2019 starring Joaquin Phoenix, which serves as an alternative origin story to Batman’s most famous arch nemesis. Phoenix promptly won best actor for the film in the 2020 Oscars for his portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime, who in this film is also known as Arthur Fleck.
The first Joker, undoubtedly inspirated by Martin Scorsese’s filmography, notably Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. Joker follows the character of Arthur Fleck, a mentally ill man who dreams of being a comedian. After murdering three businessmen on the subway, along with his favourite talk show host Murray Franklin (Rober De Niro), Arthur embraces his new persona of the Joker. The film ends with Arthur being locked away in Arkham Asylum, which is where Joker: Folie á Deux picks up.
Joker was certainly very popular when it came out. While some people didn’t really like the film, others did. I personally thought it was a quite a well made character study of a man struggling to fit into his society, who is constantly taken advantage of. While I don’t think it the best Batman related film ever, I still found it to be an enjoyable psychological study. However, I acknowledge that there was a concern around some people who would take the film and Arthur’s character too seriously, as seen by having police officers on duty when the film premiered first in New York. Making a sequel to a film that was already controversial when it first came out and adding on to an already good stand alone film was quite a daring choice for director Todd Philips.
Philips stated in an interview a few years ago he wanted this film to be a musical, which had people raise a few eyebrows at the idea. However, when it was revealed that Lady Gaga would be taking on the role of an alternative Harley Quinn, people began to get excited for the film, including myself. Gaga was shown in all of the trailers and marketing to seemingly have an equal role alongside Phoenix, however now that the film is out, it has proven to be quite a missed opportunity.
Folie á Deux takes place two years after the events of the first, with Arthur awaiting trial for his crimes. During this time, he meets and falls in love with Harleen Quinzel (or Lee as she’s referred to in the film), while Arthur also deals with his dual identity of the Joker throughout the film, I wondering if it is a split personality or something he made up himself.
To get some of the positives out in the open, Joker: Folie á Deux includes some stunning cinematography. The lighting, colours and angles are all well thought out and make it enjoyable to watch visually speaking. As well as this there is also a well done animated sequence at the beginning of the film, which not only captures the essence of the original Looney Tunes cartoons, but also gives us an insight into Arthur’s character throughout the film.
Unfortunately, the film does not utilise its potential very well. The first film wasn’t a musical and the viewer often couldn’t tell if what was happening was real or not, making this a musical separated this film very much from the first in terms of tone. While some of the musical scenes are very well done and Lady Gaga and Phoenix utilise their singing talent very well, you can’t help but feel they show up at moments where we could be progressing the drama and chemistry of Arthur and Lee’s (Gaga) relationship. But we are often pulled away from that immediately to go into an unnecessary musical number, that ultimately adds nothing to the plotline and holds us back from any real developments. On top of this, some of the musical numbers that take place in the moment instead of cutting away are personally what I personally found to be very boring and awkwardly performed. These scenes kept dragging on and take away whatever spoken character potential there could be.
Speaking of development, Lady Gaga was certainly held back in her portrayal of Harley Quinn. Gaga gave a good performance with what she was given, but she was also the first live action portrayal of Harley Quinn we have seen since Margot Robbie, and it would’ve been really interesting to see the background of her character, as well as her obsessive, fan girl-esque relationship with Joker and how she’ll do anything to get closer to him.Todd Philips most likely made this film as a response to the controversy the first Joker film spawned, with it having attracted a number of men who saw themselves in a mentally ill character with a taste for murder and used him as their role model to defend their behaviour, claiming that society was the problem. While I don’t think this was acceptable behaviour from fans of the film, Philips’ response by making a sequel film about Arthur renouncing the Joker persona he has made up for himself, was a good idea in concept, but was unfortunately executed poorly. This film had the potential to delve into the socio-economic factors on how people are failed on a daily basis and are driven to crime, but killing those out of frustration due to this, is not an excuse.