REVIEW:
The Joker: Foliie A Deux is a mess. It’s a movie that seems like it was created just to be as different as possible from the original, which is never what you want from a sequel. The first movie did tremendous business. It was the highest grossing rated R movie of all time. But there were of course some who called it irresponsible, the way any dark gritty movie about a killer is. This movie seems to be made to please those people who wanted less, not more. It seems to have been made for director Todd Phillips to laugh at those people and say, “see, is this what you wanted?” All the while knowing what he is giving us is awful.
Here’s the thing about a sequel. There’s no problem with it being different and taking things in a new direction, (like Terminator 2 switching Arnold’s character from bad to good,) but it needs to at least have the same tone. It needs to play in the same ballpark. The Joker sequel doesn’t do that. Aside from critics of the first movie, who director Todd Phillips seems to be listening to, he also may have been influenced by what happened with his Hangover sequels. The second one, in particular, was considered just a retread of the first movie. Maybe Phillips wanted to make sure he wasn’t making that mistake all over again.
But most likely none of these theories are true. Phillips probably didn’t care about the haters or the critics at all. In fact, what it really seems like is that he just did whatever he wanted with this movie, and what he wanted was to stick it to the fans of the original. It seems like he sort of resented that the first movie did so well, on all levels (it even won Joaquin Phoenix a best actor Oscar.) And as to why he would resent that…because it meant he had to make a sequel, and Ben thought clearly he didn’t want to. And with this sequel Phillips is clearly trying to mess with people, in all the worst ways.
Let’s start with what you can tell before even seeing the movie. It has a pretentious title, and it’s a musical. The title (or subtitle,) Folie A Deux, in another language, where the meaning is not clear, is a little annoying. It means madness of two. And then the musical idea. Why? The first movie was a gritty street film. This one is a musical? For what purpose, other than that they got Lady Gaga?
Well, I can tell you why it’s a musical, but it’s not gonna make things any better. The reason why this is a musical has to do with the very worst thing about the movie. There is no threat of violence anywhere. You see, other than a one second scene, which we’ll get to later, Arthur (the Joker,) spends the entire movie either in prison or in a court room. That’s it. He is never in a setting where he has the ability to do any violence. And so the only way they get violence in here is through musical fantasy. It’s also the only way they get him in Joker makeup in the first half of the film. And the musical fantasy element very much feels like a cheat, because you know it’s not real. When Arthur bops someone over the head with something, you know that Arthur’s about to wake up from the fantasy and the person will really be just fine. So that definitely does not count as anything like a threat. And that’s why it’s a musical. Because it’s a “way,” of getting a little bit of violence into the movie, where there otherwise wouldn’t be any.
The story itself is pretty lame. Arthur spends the first half of the movie in prison, listening to guards say things like, “tell us a joke, Arthur,” and being put into a music class where he meets the Lady Gaga character Lee (Harley Quinzell.) She tells him how much she followed his story and what an inspiration he was, and they hit it off. Later, the guards put her in a cell with him for a little alone time. Of course, we have no idea if any of this is real or just in his head.
Arthur does television interviews and has meetings with his lawyer, and none of it is very interesting. Then the next thing you know, Lee is released from prison, and Arthur goes to trial. The trial takes up the entire second half of the movie. At one point, Arthur finds out a secret about Lee, and should be a twist with real consequences. The kind they changes everything and actually has an impact. Only it doesn’t. Arthur confronts her about it, she makes up an excuse, and we move on. Done.
Regarding the trial, it’s basically just a rehashing of the first movie, telling us what happened in that film. Characters from the first movie are called to the witness stand. Many people have said this sequel is more like an epilogue to the first movie, then it is like its own film, and this is exactly the reason why. The first time we get anything resembling something new is during Arthur’s closing statement. And that closing statement, about what Arthur thinks of The Joker, is basically a spit in the face of all characters in the movie who are fans and supporters if the Joker persona (like Lee,) as well as actual fans of the first movie.
But that’s not the worst of it. Not even close. The worst of it is that there’s one moment where Arthur actually gets freed, and then he is quickly snatched back up and put back in prison. The entire movie we’re waiting for him to get freed, to be somewhere where he can actually cause some carnage. And Phillips uses this hope of ours against us, to mess with us once again.
Here’s the thing, the first movie was a street film akin to Taxi Driver meets The King of Comedy. Arthur killed 5 or 6 people, many of then at different times. In this sequel, he kills nobody. He never goes near the street. There is no actual threat of violence at all. The entire movie is either in prison or at trial. It’s as confined and restricted as you get. Oh, and the musical numbers are incredibly boring. That’s just the cherry on the cake. What a mess.