When critics referred to as for superhero motion pictures to do one thing totally different, we did not imply Joker: Folie à Deux.
In 2019’s Joker, co-writer/director Todd Phillips stole closely from Martin Scorsese’s earlier movies to re-imagine the long-lasting Batman villain as a put-upon everyman on the point of breakdown and infamy. Incomes over a billion {dollars} worldwide and 11 Academy Award nominations, together with Finest Image, The Hangover helmer’s gritty Joker origin story was virtually assured a sequel. Admittedly, Phillips earned goodwill — even from these of us who rolled our eyes at Phillips’ poor imitation of Taxi Driver meets The King of Comedy — had been intrigued when he forged pop goddess Woman Gaga as Harley Quinn.
However be warned, Little Monsters: Joker: Folie à Deux won’t fulfill your need to see Gaga go arduous. Harley Quinn followers will likewise be dissatisfied, because the character who has been re-imagined in a wide range of contemporary and enjoyable methods throughout motion pictures, TV, and video video games by no means will get her second within the highlight. Likewise, I think Batman followers — particularly those that adored Christopher Nolan’s tackle the Gotham rogues’ gallery — will groan over Phillips’ informal skewing of that canon. Not even musical followers might be entertained by Joker: Folie à Deux, as a result of whereas Phillips can drop a reference, he fails to make any of those intriguing parts his personal.
Make no mistake: Joker: Folie à Deux is an atrociously grim and boring film.
Joker and Harley aren’t what followers may hope.
Credit score: Niko Tavernise / Warner Bros. Footage
The primary act of Joker: Folie à Deux is ungodly sluggish, lumbering via Arthur “Joker” Fleck’s (Phoenix) routine on the Arkham State Hospital. He is being held within the most safety wing forward of his trial for murdering 5 folks, together with speak present host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) on stay TV. Emaciated as ever and silently glum, Arthur does not even crack jokes for the jolly Irish guard (Brendan Gleeson, giving his all to a bit half), not anymore anyway. It appears Arthur’s lust for all times (or blood) is completely gone — till he makes eye contact with Lee Quinzel (Gaga), a affected person who shares his affinity for violence and mayhem.
From Batman: The Animated Sequence to Suicide Squad to Harley Quinn, the romance between Joker and Harley has at all times been characterised by various ranges and shades of toxicity. Right here, the dynamic is much less lovestruck sidekick and extra hanger-on. Lee swiftly establishes herself as a Joker fangirl, telling Arthur she’s seen the TV film made about him like 20 instances, and assuring him it is an excellent. She coddles his ego, his want for consideration, and even his genitals to wind her approach round his coronary heart. And forward of his trial, she’s fast to hurry to the tabloids to inform all about their wild love.
Per the title, the 2 share in a particular insanity, a fantasy that explains the musical numbers inside this film that Phillips himself has declined to outline as a musical. Basically, of their shared imaginative and prescient, Arthur and Lee are backed by an orchestral rating as they sing out jaunty songs with a twisted glee. Joker: Folie à Deux is most alive when Phoenix and Gaga embrace this freaky fantasy, knowledgeable by musicals like 1953’s The Band Wagon, pulling from the scene and tune “That’s Entertainment.”
Nonetheless, Phillips appears afraid to indulge within the aesthetics of the Golden Age of musicals, favoring as a substitute the gritty, macho ferocity of ’70s classics like Canine Day Afternoon, The French Connection, or The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. However he cannot pull it off. Positive, the colours might shift from sickly greens and yellows to brighter shades when the movie strikes from actual to romantic creativeness. However they’re nonetheless cool, reflecting a sure squalor as a substitute of a glistening fantasy.
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An even bigger subject is that Arthur Fleck just isn’t the charismatic underdog seen in these ’70s hits. Phoenix does not try the grizzled bravado of Walter Matthau, the tooth-grit depth of Gene Hackman, or the feral, blue-collared enthusiasm of Al Pacino. Phoenix’s Fleck is constructed of damaged glass, sharp and fragile however unable to be embraced as an enticing anti-hero. In each this movie and the final, he’s outlined by an absence of charisma. So, whereas clown-masked followers holler outdoors the courthouse, the viewers may effectively be baffled at their obsession. Fleck is both pathetically perplexed or excruciating in his capering. The numerous, many courtroom scenes of Arthur/Joker dealing with off in opposition to witnesses, prosecutor Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey), or an more and more irritated decide are ruthlessly uninteresting.
I want this was the film Woman Gaga thinks she’s in.
Joaquin Phoenix and Woman Gaga star as Arthur and Lee in “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
Credit score: Niko Tavernise / Warner Bros. Footage
Joker: Folie à Deux is a misanthropic film, the place almost each act of kindness is undercut by a hidden agenda. However even on this grim portrait of Gotham, Phillips leans arduous into misogynistic archetypes. The 2 feminine leads on this sequel fall on reverse sides of the tedious madonna/whore divide, the place a person’s view of a lady is both a saintly mom or a sinister temptress. On one finish of the spectrum is Arthur’s protection legal professional (an underused Catherine Keener), who argues that the Joker is a separate character and that Arthur wants psychological well being care, not jail. On the opposite finish is Lee, who sees Joker as Arthur’s true self, and thru their romance pushes him to embrace the clown paint, wherever it leads him.
As a result of that is firmly Joker’s film (Harley’s identify is not within the title, is it?), Lee’s character is much less fleshed out and extra an attractive machine to push Arthur out of his numb routine and again into the chaos circus. Regardless of her worldwide fame as a singer, Gaga is not given a giant quantity, only a small solo second earlier than a mirror, singing to herself as she places on the closest this film will get to a Harley Quinn makeover. This might-be superior transformation is underwhelming, the outcomes like a rushed Halloween costume. Followers who’ve relished the contemporary trend fantasies bestowed upon us by Birds of Prey, Harley Quinn, and The Suicide Squad will seemingly be dissatisfied. Including insult to damage, the duo’s dance down Joker‘s signature staircase — which is everywhere in the promotional supplies — does not even happen on this film.
Why would Gaga take such a sidekick function? She pours herself into the half, a lot in order that she’s launched a companion album, Harlequin, although Lee isn’t even referred to as “Harley Quinn” on this film. However regardless of being kicked to the margins of this Joker story, Gaga’s efficiency affords a wealthy subtext about parasocial relationships — one which maybe is knowledgeable by her personal expertise as a worldwide pop star. Her Lee is a fan who feels not solely that she understands the (in)well-known individual with whom she is obsessed, but additionally that she is aware of what’s greatest for him higher than anybody else. Craving to be seen and liked, Arthur is simple prey for such consideration. However whereas the movie begins to treat Lee as a vicious opportunist, Gaga’s efficiency reveals empathy via Lee’s radiant desperation to be seen. Regardless of the tune put earlier than her, Gaga performs them neatly in character, pitching her voice from tender on the verge of breaking, to sultry vocal purrs, to broad cabaret belting. Her Lee is a lady decided to be the badass she desires to see on the earth, and Gaga’s vocal efficiency charts that course within the background of the Joker tedium.
Whereas Phillips’ uninteresting courtroom drama has the depth of a faculty dorm room poster, Gaga plunges right into a deep pool of primal craving and emotional resonance to benefit from a criminally underwritten function.
DC canon and traditional musicals are given equal disrespect in Joker: Folie à Deux.
Joaquin Phoenix is Arthur Fleck in “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
Credit score: Niko Tavernise / Warner Bros. Footage
The script by Phillips and Scott Silver sprinkles in some acquainted Harley canon, nonetheless haphazardly. Nevertheless it’s not sufficient to make this character really feel remotely linked to the variations of Quinn which have come earlier than. Worse but, Phillips cavalierly contains in his third act a none-too-subtle allusion to Nolan’s The Darkish Knight. This scene — which entails a violent interplay with one other Arkham inmate — is clearly supposed as an Easter egg for DC followers, nevertheless it’s arduous to think about Phillips’ blatant retconning of the adored trilogy (which he had nothing to do with) might be appreciated.
On prime of exhibiting a clip from The Band Wagon, Joker: Folie à Deux is sprinkled with outdated requirements like “Get Happy,” “That’s Life,” and “If My Friends Could See Me Now.” There are additionally allusions to iconic musical choices resembling Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Sonny & Cher Present, and Chicago. However these thrives really feel as superficial because the narrative’s tentative connection to the DC comics.
It is all a lot clown paint on a pig. Phillips has crafted an astoundingly tedious courtroom drama bedecked with musical numbers, star energy, and DC IP, but it nonetheless seems like a slog. To his credit score, he is damaged out of the superhero cliches which have resulted in fatigue from critics and audiences alike. However his pastiche brings nothing new or thrilling to the display for a woefully indulgent runtime of two hours and 18 minutes.
Ultimately, Joker: Folie à Deux does not really feel provocative, romantic, and even entertaining. This sequel seems like a punishment.
Joker: Folie à Deux opens in theaters Oct. 4.
