Joker: Folie à Deux is the musical sequel to Joker that no one asked for, but “you get what you f’ing deserve” thanks to director Todd Phillips. In it, audiences return to his unsettlingly grim corner of the DC Universe for another round of soul-crushing drama in a more colorful and bizarre follow-up that will have a tough time finding a target audience.
The story follows the build-up to and trial of Arthur Fleck aka Joker again startingly brought to life by the tremendous work of Joaquin Phoenix. Joker: Folie à Deux introduces Harleen “Lee” Quinzel aka Harley Quinn from the Batman source material, played by actor/singer Lady Gaga to bolster the decision to give the film a heavy musical element. Phoenix isn’t without his musical chops either (see Walk the Line) so the two make quite an odd pair of vocals, spending far more time crooning than one might expect.
There’s some true artistry at work in this film and some of the musical sequences are quite beautiful to behold thanks to the film’s incredible cinematography. The songs themselves only work half the time with the best being the song “The Joker” with Phoenix as lead vocal, taking place around the middle of the film. Unfortunately from there, the film continues to force-feed its both small and elaborate musical numbers to mixed and exhausting results. Not to say Gaga doesn’t crush it, but her powerhouse voice and Phoenix’s raspy growling do better on their own, missing more than hitting when together.
The crazy love romance of the two does offer an unexpected aspect to the film that the original sorely lacked: joy. When the couple first finds each other and discovers their love, colors burst into reality and explode with visual flare in their more elaborate fantasy musical sequences. I daresay, some of this movie is rather sweet and palatable to watch in stark contrast to the dark abyss of the first film.
The supporting cast is also full of wonderful actors delivering good performances including Brendan Gleeson as Jackie Sullivan, an almost endearing Arkham guard until he most certainly is not. Catherine Keener is Maryanne Stewart, Arthur’s lawyer and one of the level-headed characters, but Keener isn’t given much to do aside from being the voice of sanity for the audience. DC Comics fans will be excited to see Harry Lawtey as Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face (albeit before his transformation) smugly prosecuting Arthur in a fun, but overall undeveloped role.
But the performances aren’t the issue with Joker: Folie à Deux, the cast are all terrific and deserve praise and recognition for their work. Despite having more moments of beauty and excitement than its bleak predecessor, it comes across as a less cohesive film than Joker and more like a splash of ideas and sequences forced together to make a story. At least this time, even though everything once again comes to a gut-wrenching and tragic ending like before, Joker: Folie à Deux doesn’t end with a dangerous glorification of the character. Instead, ultimately this failed experiment ends this two-part act as a cautionary tale of the power of media and celebrity worship.
Score: 2.5 out 5