Joker: Folie à Deux Review

 I saw Joker: Folie à Deux, here are my thoughts…

The Joker (Arthur) starts a musical romance with a fellow inmate while attending his trial for the events of the first film…

The best thing about this movie is the direction/style. The way it sets the mood, camera movements, cinematography, performances, color grading, and even the soundtrack is Oscar-quality. I really have to tip my hat to the craftsmanship.

Great cast: Joaquin Phoenix gives a very layered and highly emotional performance as good as the first one, Lady Gaga uses the most screen time to provide an equally interesting performance. Brendan Gleeson was a nice surprise, Catherine Keener and Harry Lawtey gave solid supporting roles. But the big surprise is Leigh Gill (Arthur's former work friend). If they gave out Oscars for characters who only had one scene, this guy would win because he really acts his ass off and stole the movie for a bit.

But what really matters is the story, I mean you can dress something up to the nines, but what really counts is what’s wearing the suit, and the story has its ups and downs and mixed quality.

So there are three parts to the film:

The first half was kind of muddled, I won’t say bad, I just kind of loose with the storytelling. We just sort of hang out with Arthur, see what daily life in prison is like… and it’s bleak and depressing, and nobody likes to spend long sequences being bleak and depressed, no matter how well it’s done (which it is).

Then Arthur meets Harley, and while they don’t have a Bad Romance… ;) I will say it’s very surface-level infatuation. Very “I like you, your sweet, you make me feel special”, just kind of puppy love basic.

I do wish Lady Gaga had more screen time. There’s just a lot going on with her character that could go to some interesting places, but the movie doesn’t take advantage of her as much as I’d hope.

We start getting musical bits, which are good. I’m not a big musical guy, so I’m not the best person to ask, but I thought they were well done and I liked their minimalism.

Second half we get to the trial, and Arthur’s Joker side starts coming out, the story starts picking up steam, and Joker and Harley have fun dance banter, I’m getting into it… although I will say this is one of the worst movie Judge’s I’ve ever seen. I know nothing of law, but this Judge lets so many things happen that even a brick wall would know you can’t get away with lol

But I’m having fun. So I’m like “Am I the odd man out?”, because people are hating on this flick, and I think it’s ok so far… not a home run, but it’s getting on base.

Then the third act happens, and the film just throws up its hands and goes “I got nothing”…. I’m surprised the characters literally didn’t pull an “I don’t know “emoji and go 🤷‍♂️ 

I don’t want to spoil anything, but to keep it vague to say my point… a certain character has a change, which felt out of character for what had been set up in the story… probably not the one you're thinking of, but close.

Todd Phillips was overall trying to make a point about the type of people who would become obsessed with a person like Arthur, which I get and give him points… but it’s certainly not satisfying, so you walk out of the theater feeling empty.

I didn’t know where else to put this, but there are different wards inside the asylum, and Arthur is staying in the B Ward. Which I’m sure is a reference to Burt Ward who played Robin in the 60s Batman show… I always love a good Batman ‘66 reference

Also, the film opens with a Ralph Bakshi-style recap of the first one, which I liked. It fits the time period and is stylish looking. 

So in summation, while I appreciate some of the swings the movie takes, and it was impressive and enjoyable in parts, it eventually just falls on its face with a loud dud, and I’m just sitting there, not mad, just going… huh, well that didn’t come together. I give it a very high two stars ⭐️⭐️