Daisy
Come on, get happy, Get ready for the judgement day…
And judgement day it is indeed.
Joker: Folie à Deux, the much-anticipated $190 million film is polarising to say the least.
As the sequel to the hugely successful Joker, Folie à Deux sees Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) awaiting trial for his actions in the first film.
While doing so, he meets Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) in a music therapy class. What ensues is a series of musical dream sequences… and not much else.
I love a musical – probably more than most. But this film tries so hard to be one, yet feels too scared to commit to it.
The fantasy in which the Joker lives, where he sings and dances along with his newfound love, are visually spectacular. The saturated colour, the costumes, the set design, all heightened by stunning performances from our two stars. But they add absolutely nothing to the plot.
Some of this colour does seep into the grey-scale world of Arkham City. But apart from that, the two worlds are completely separate. While its mission was to show the split personality between the ‘Joker’ and Arthur – which his whole defence is based on – all it does is drag out the runtime and make it even more apparent that there is no real plot.
By the time you get to the umpteenth musical number, you are simply wishing for it to be over so you the film can finally wrap up.
The second half of the film turns full courtroom drama – a commentary on the world’s fascination with high-profile televised court cases shown through a series of long-winded scenes.
Harvey Dent’s (Harry Lawtey) appearance as district attorney feels like nothing more than an IP name-drop.
The most profound scene in the whole film is the return of Gary Puddles (Leigh Gill) Arthur’s former colleague. As he takes to the stand, he delivers a gut-wrenching performance and offers the first bit of genuine tension in the film.
And when we finally feel like we are starting to wrap up, the movie is dragged out with another crazed-fan assisted near-escape for Arthur. The cat-and-mouse chase is short-lived, and we’re presented with a final scene that’ll leave audiences divided.
The last thing that I expected from this film was that it would bore me – but it did. Even Lady Gaga couldn’t save what was an incredibly thin plot. We didn’t learn anything new about Arthur, there’s no character arc and nothing was accomplished.
Ultimately, the film is a farce that fails to hit the mark on the message of the first film. I could’ve saved myself the two and a half hours and just listened to the soundtrack.
Year: 2024
Rating: M15+
Running Time: 138 MIN
Genre: Action
Director: Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawtey, Leigh Gill
Production Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures