Joker: Folie à Deux Movie Review – A Half-Hearted Sequel That Makes Everyone Wish James Gunn’s DC Reboot Would Come Sooner

Not too long ago, this site published an article stating that director Todd Phillips should’ve led the DCU, not James Gunn. Well, after watching Joker: Folie à Deux, it’s time to delete that article and apologize to the audience for even considering it in the first place. If 2019’s Joker was the comic book movie equivalent of Scorsese, Joker: Folie à Deux is Uwe Boll. It’s somewhat mind-blowing how far the sequel falls from grace in what’s the latest in the line of endless failures from Warner Bros. and DC’s partnership.

If anyone sees the trailer, they know exactly what the film is about. After his murder spree in the prior film, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) remains incarcerated in Arkham. He awaits a trial date as the district attorney Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) seeks the death penalty for him. At the same time, Arthur’s prior actions turn him into a martyr and celebrity, as his fanbase sees him as the person to shake the foundations of the system. In Arkham, Arthur meets inmate Harley “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga). They form a bad romance, as Lee encourages Arthur to embrace who he really is: Joker. Is that it? Yes, pretty much so.

Lady Gaga’s Lee Quinzel adds nothing to an already futile story

The number one issue with Joker: Folie à Deux is that there’s not a single point for this story to exist at all. It’s a sequel for the sake of one. There are threads of themes introduced throughout the film, including one that Arthur is a narcissist at his core, but they disappear after a scene – never to return or be addressed again. It’s as clear as day this script was rewritten so many times that everyone forgot about what it was about to begin with.

In addition, Lee – why the hell did anyone have to change her name from Harley to Lee here? – serves no real purpose in the story; her entire arc could have been removed and not a single thing would have changed in the movie. This is no fault of Lady Gaga, though – she puts in a decent performance but the material isn’t there for her to do more. The dynamic between Arthur and Lee feels off as well, never evolving beyond “mad love.” It’s almost like the on-screen depiction of every romance between an ordinary person and a famous serial killer. Maybe Todd Phillips and his co-screenwriter Scott Silver should have read a comic or two beforehand? 

Surprisingly, it’s Arthur’s scenes in the courtroom that engross the viewer, as they turn into a deeper character study about who he really is and let Joaquin Phoenix’s acting ability take centre stage. Arthur’s intense interaction with his former co-worker Gary Puddles (Leigh Gill), for example, establishes itself as one of the most hard-hitting and revelatory scenes in the whole movie. Apart from this, the other standout moments include any time when Arthur and Brendan Gleeson’s Arkham prison guard character, Jackie Sullivan, are on screen together.

The film is a half-hearted musical that didn’t need the music numbers

A lot has been made about the musical elements of Joker: Folie à Deux. While the scenes catch the eye – as does the rest of the film, thanks to Lawrence Sher’s vintage-inspired and colourful cinematography – and Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix perform them in character, there’s a point in which one asks the question: Why didn’t they fully commit to a musical rather than shoehorn the musical pieces in here? Don’t be surprised to groan after the 90-minute mark in the movie when Gaga wants to belt out a jazzy number about mountains. As it stands, the film is already too long at 138 minutes and the pointless musical numbers only add to the frustration of it overstaying its welcome.

The ending to the film proves itself to be the most DC thing ever. It’s telegraphed from the early stages of Joker: Folie à Deux and comes across as Todd Phillips and Scott Silver spending too much time reading fan theories on Reddit (seriously, this one was covered in r/FanTheories a long time ago). While it poses a fascinating question about the origin story of a popular version of a DC character, this didn’t need to happen here. In fact, the more one thinks about it, this story should have ended after Joker and left the audience wondering what happened to the Clown Prince of Crime instead of providing a definitive (but not) conclusion. Viewers will understand what this means when they watch it.

Is Joker: Folie à Deux worth watching?

There’s no getting around the fact that DC films are a major mess right now. Joker: Folie à Deux proves to be no different and shockingly sets the bar even lower. When The Flash feels like Citizen Kane compared to this bad attempt at a musical version of The Shawshank Redemption, it says it all. Spare the pain and pretend like Arthur Fleck’s story ends after Joker.

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