Joker: Folie à Deux is a piece of trash movie. It was made for a purpose that got forgotten shortly after in the movie. The movie isn’t great, but I wouldn’t say it’s the worst.
This movie has the most bizarre reason for being made; Joker actor Joaquin Phoenix went to the film’s director Todd Philips and told him that he “didn’t feel ready to leave Arthur Fleck behind” according to a Variety interview with Joaquin Phoenix. In the piece, he said that one night when he was going to bed that he had an idea of his character performing on stage telling jokes and singing, giving him the idea of possibly doing a musical sequel. They did just that.
Now, I think the idea of a Joker sequel was good. Considering the fact that the first movie was a big hit, making over 96 million dollars. Also, the first Joker movie got 4.4 stars out of 5, and an 8.4/10 on IMDb.
To help paint the picture, the Joker movie was made to reflect modern day society. The film wasn’t intended to be political; the story is about child trauma and mental illness. The movies are about the Joker after all. The Joker 2 is a musical courtroom thriller. In the movie, Arthur Fleck is trying to prove his innocence after the events in the first movie.
Arthur finds the love of his life, Lee Quinzel, while incarcerated in the Arkham state hospital. All while he struggles with his dual identity disorder. It’s common for the sequel of a movie to be worse than the original, but when you completely change it into a musical, it’s almost like they are trying to have the second movie be worse than the first. Not only does the movie just seem off, it also is really confusing trying to follow the story. It’s a musical, and every time there’s a semi-serious conversation, they just burst out into a song and dance.
This movie is also mainly about Lee Quinzel and the Joker meeting. And in the movie, Lee likes the Joker, not Arthur Fleck. The whole movie, Arthur tries to prove he isn’t the Joker. That right there already makes it a little complicated to follow in my opinion. Not only is this a musical, but they have Lady Gaga playing Lee, which is a little of a redeeming factor since it’s a musical. But I think there are better actresses to play Lee. Even Lady Gaga said herself in an interview with Good Morning Britain that she can’t save the movie and that “the movie was only possible because of the other people I’m working with.”
The Joker 2 lost at least a whopping 150 million dollars in the United States, got a 1.8/5 star review on Google, a 5.3/10 on IMDb and a 32% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The music isn’t bad, and it’s alright to listen to. Overall, I would recommend watching: just not enough to spend the money for it in theaters.
