Joker: Folie a Deux (2024) – Film Review

Director: Todd Phillips
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Certificate: 15

By Roger Crow

Like many Lady Gaga fans, when it was announced she was playing lovably psycho psychiatrist Harley Quinn in a sequel to Todd Phillips’s surprise blockbuster Joker, I couldn’t wait to see what she did with the role.

That 2019 movie was a grim origins story which made some Batman fans wonder if we needed yet another interpretation. But the DC Comics villain is one that will always get a fresh coat of cinematic greasepaint every few years, and Joaquin Phoenix did an amazing job as the hugely troubled Arthur Fleck, aka you know who.

A heady mix of Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, Phillips’ movie was slated by some critics but set cash tills ringing regardless.

“Much-needed levity”

Reviews for this follow-up have also been mixed, and it’s not hard to see why. A mix of prison drama and courtroom saga with flights of musical fantasy, it dwells too much in the real world, and doesn’t embrace the musical aspect enough. Those tunes are old school Hollywood staples like ‘That’s Entertainment’ and the Sweet Charity classic ‘If They Could See Me Now’. If Stephen Sondheim was around today, it would have been nice to hear a couple of new compositions from the maestro, though the avoidance of ‘Send in the Clowns’ is sorely absent here. And the whole thing is like a Sondheim project with hints of Scorsese. Starting off with a mock Warner Bros cartoon, from there the tone is 50 shades of grim, with those musical numbers adding much-needed levity.

Phoenix dominates the movie, inevitably, but Gaga is used sparingly. Brendan Gleeson (great as ever) is a natural fit as a no-nonsense prison guard, and while there’s a desperate desire for the film to escape from its prison/courtroom trappings, that barely happens. The denouement offers room for a sequel of sorts, but it’s not as obvious as you might think.

Don’t get sucked in by the hype. Joker 2 is not the five-star movie the advertisers would have you believe. It’s a grim, depressing folly which may be one of 2024’s biggest let-downs.

By David Reid

Five years after Joaquin Phoenix’s first outing as Joker, here he reprises the role in a sequel outing for the infamous antihero. We find an emaciated Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) in the Arkham Asylum, detained following the multiple murders comitted by Joker in the original movie. He is introverted and appears broken – goaded by the staff on a constant basis. The most senior warder, Jackie Sullivan, is played in a cheerfully Celtic bullish fashion by Brendan Gleeson, along with his character’s signature humming and whistling of easy-listening classics.

The ghastly nature of the principal’s surroundings are emphasised by the blue and grey hues picked out by the dim lighting. Seeking solace through music is quickly established as a recurrent theme. Sullivan’s interest in his charge leads to Fleck being granted an additional institutional privilege, in the form of time in a music class, where he first encounters Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga). She is clearly fascinated by Joker’s infamy and they quickly form an intense bond, apparently as kindred spirits. The madness of two, as outlined in the film title. This is also consolidated though musical interpretations of erstwhile classics as the pair duet, sometimes in Fleck’s imagination, and sometimes for real.

“Tender musical scenes”

Gotham City is abuzz in anticipation of Fleck’s criminal trial. Steve Coogan plays TV interviewer, Paddy Meyer, who tries to make sense of Fleck’s brutal behaviour through his confrontational interview technique. Psychiatrists try to assess the defendant’s mental state. As the trial opens, a key question for the court appears to be whether Fleck’s traumatic childhood forced him to create – and retreat into – an alternative Joker persona, as a coping mechanism; or whether this is all a fake, consciously conjured up within a twisted, evil, but sane, mind. Writer/director Todd Phillips evokes a nihilistic view of humanity, reminiscent of Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.

Throughout this, Lee Quinzel is Fleck’s rock. Her faith in him encourages him to imagine a bright future for them both and her love instils a resurrection of his self-esteem. There is evident chemistry between the two leads, as the viewer begins to believe in this unlikeliest of couples. There are some tender musical scenes between the two, as the director presents an alternative La La Land scenario. In particular, popular music classics The Bee Gees’ ‘To Love Somebody’ and The Carpenters’ ‘Close To You’ are deployed in dreamlike sequences. Lady Gaga’s musical talents are perhaps best utilised here in a gospel-style rendition of Anthony Newley’s ‘Gonna Build A Mountain’. The movie is at it’s liveliest in these creative moments.

“Stultifying”

Unfortunately, the core of the movie focuses upon courtroom scenes largely devoid of any real drama. These comprise too great a proportion of the two-hour and eighteen-minutes runtime. The director’s vision appear to centre around understanding the mental state of the central character. I am sure that fans of Lady Gaga will find respite in her musical contributions, however, despite valiant performances by the two leads, without interesting dialogue, or sufficient action sequences, the attention of the viewer is bound to drift.

I found myself craving for the principal character to escape the introspective tedium of the Gotham County courtroom and incite a revolution in order to harness Phoenix’s acting prowess more constructively and inject some much needed energy into the flagging narrative. A promising initial premise is lost in a stultifying storyline. A couple of twists towards the end were insufficient to rescue the soul of this film – one of the most anticipated of the year, when first announced. For this reviewer, this Folie ultimately lapsed into folly.

‘Joker: Folie a Deux’ is now in cinemas