A major sin committed by Joker: Folie in Deux it’s its inability to be a proper thread. Ideally, sequential scenes should expand the story, enrich the characters, and take the audience on an unexpected journey full of new people and places. Here we meet new people and see new places, but the story and characters are firmly attached to the first movie, they are unwilling and unable to develop or grow. Director and writer Todd Phillips is always teasing new ideas and interesting themes but he doesn’t make any good of it. In fact, sometimes he puts something up on purpose just to destroy it. As a result, Joker: Folie in Deux it might be the worst sequel ever made. It’s one act of the next chapter expanded into a full movie, which is at the same time unsatisfying and frustrating.
When we last left Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), he had just murdered a TV host on live television, causing chaos and destruction in Gotham City. Two years later, Arthur is in prison and preparing for trial, but his popularity has not waned. The city still seems to be focused on transforming Arthur’s alter ego, the Joker, and proving that those two people are different is a key element in his defense. Wait, we’re sorry. Arthur is in jail awaiting trial part of the live action the movie starts. The actual beginning of the film is Looney Tunes-stylish cartoon that adds nothing to the story or tone other than setting a pattern of confusion and disappointment that will continue throughout the film.
Arthur soon meets Lee (Lady Gaga), a patient in the prison’s minimum security unit who reveals himself to be a fan of the Joker. The two begin a romance; the only way for the lovebirds to express their feelings are big-scale musical numbers, where Arthur and Lee sing pop standards or show tunes in a prison or other dreamland. These scenes are beautiful and often entertaining. And, the way Phillips cuts it, we’re left guessing what’s real and what’s not, and most of the time we’re guessing wrong.
In all this, Joker: Folie in Deux it keeps our interest. Will Arthur be able to get away with murder? How will his new love change him as a person? Can Gotham City handle the fact that the case is being televised? We get answers to those questions but rarely in the way we expect. Arthur remains the same old Arthur, sad and quiet at times, loud and violent at others. From the opening scenes to the ending, he rarely deviates or reveals new insights in his mind. Lee is one thing that changes Arthur a bit, making him a perfect complement, but the film later reveals things about the character that greatly diminishes that.
Once the trial begins however, Joker: Folie in Deux it really gets lost. What we hope will be an interesting, intense, surprising story is a retelling of the first film, with its characters returning to testify and tell us things we already know. We think that will change when Arthur, seemingly clueless, fires his lawyer and decides to defend himself. Nevertheless, with this Phillips sets the potential for something special and it does not hold back. We get one full scene of Arthur the Lawyer where it’s clear neither he nor the movie has a clue what to do with this idea.
Each time, Joker: Folie in Deux it keeps teasing its audience in unsatisfying ways. Can Arthur and Lee’s musical dreams become anything? They don’t. Does Lee’s fondness for the Joker say something special about the nature of celebrity? Not really. The scenes we want to be longer are not there. The scenes we want to be short are long. And each time the film poses a question to be answered and either doesn’t answer it or turns it completely on its head, it gets more and more insane. This may be the point but it doesn’t work well.
Everything would be fine if the rest was like something. Another justification for the ping pong game Phillips plays with the film’s structure and themes. Instead, without doing anything, the third act of the film contradicts everything on an even bigger stage. Not only does this film blow up, but the first film as well, it leaves us wondering why we watched any of this in the first place.
To be honest, there are good things happening Joker: Folie in Deux. As one might expect, Joaquin Phoenix is as impressive as he was in the first film, for which he won an Academy Award. Lady Gaga is electrifying every time and every time she’s on screen, like Lee or some version of her music, the film is bright and ready. And Lawrence Sher’s cinematography is gorgeous, giving the whole film a retro, epic feel. It’s just a shame the good work of those people and everyone is being betrayed by the story they are telling.
Joker: Folie in Deux it is less about Arthur than it is about him. It’s a film, and a character, that isn’t sure what it wants to be, or what it is, so it flounders and ultimately decides it doesn’t want to be anything at all. At least the first one The Joker leave you with things to think about. Here you are left frustrated at everything that could have been or never was.
Joker: Folie in Deux in theaters Friday.
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