Joker: Folie à Deux Movie Review

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

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Written by: Scott Silver & Todd Phillips, Bob Kane & Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson (characters created by), Paul Dini &
Bruce Timm (created by "Harley Quinn")
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Ken Leung
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
Struggling with his dual identity, failed comedian Arthur Fleck meets the love of his life, Harley Quinn, while incarcerated at Arkham State Hospital.

Verdict
This movie never seemed necessary, before or after watching it. The first movie did a great job of exploring the character and showing us a possible origin of Joker. This explores his delusions versus reality, but it doesn't add to the character. This movie seems to exist to take the subversion of expectations further. It's another Batman movie without Batman. It's a genre that you wouldn't associate with musicals, and even the way this movie concludes, it subverts your expectations again. Since all this movie does is toy with expectations, it's quite long for that. I like the aspirations, but it seems like a movie that exists because the first movie was successful and this is just trying to fill space, continue the joke, and sell more tickets. It's a case of, we've got this money we might as well do something with it.
It depends.

Review
A sequel to Joker (2019) which depicted an origin story of the character when he has a break down. Without Batman, there was no character to balance Joker. The Joker won in that movie.

This begins with an animated prologue about the Joker and his shadow. We soon learn that's telling. This movie is about the duality of Arthur and his alter ego Joker.

Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is in jail for the crimes committed in the first movie. He's tested to see if he's qualified as sane for his trial. It's clear Arthur isn't okay. The movie is filled with musical sequences. The movie doesn't define the line between fantasy and reality, but it's clear that the musical sequences are Arthur's delusions. These sequences can't be real.

Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur

Arthur was isolated and alone in the first movie, seeking a connection. In this movie he's found someone, but that's also after his split from reality. You could argue much of what we see in this movie is a fabrication. These Joker movies play with the origin story. Harleen "Lee" (Lady Gaga) isn't the Harley Quinn as depicted in other properties. Arthur is infatuated with her, more interested in her than his trial. Lee seems to have a lot of freedom which led me to wonder if she's a figment of Arthur's imagination. The two of them have a duet in the movie that clearly isn't reality. It seems that if Arthur is singing, he's in his head.

Lady Gaga, Joaquin Phoenix play Lee, Arthur / Joker

The first Joker movie felt like a masquerade. It was a movie about a man with a breakdown, and it was called Joker just for the name recognition. This sequel feels indulgent in a similar way. The Joker name gives Phillips some amount of freedom to create a movie that explores a deranged character and marries two genres typically at odds. The first movie was called Joker, but it wasn't really Joker. This sequel brings in Harley Quinn, but it's not really Quinn. This is a sequel to a movie that never needed it. What else can you do with this idea? The first movie examined the psyche of a broken man that snaps when pushed too far. It depicted the external factors. This doesn't add much. We've already seen what he can do and the madness he generates. This features musical numbers which is what Arthur sees. It also depicts how his lawyer, the DA, and Lee see him; all differently. With Brendan Gleeson playing a prison guard, I assumed he's have a bigger impact on the story. He doesn't. It just adds to the questions of what is this movie's goal?

Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur / Joker

While this is part courtroom drama and part musical, what judge would allow Arthur to paint his face with clown makeup and represent himself? It's silly, and maybe it's just the machinations of Arthur. Folie à deux is a condition where two people share the same delusion. Arthur and Lee are the two, but what is their shared delusion? Is it that they are somehow contributing to society by overthrowing the social order? Or is it just an engaging subtitle for the movie?

The first movie was the transition of Arthur into the Joker. In this movie Arthur tries to play the Joker and realizes the idea or concept is dangerous. It counters the first movie. Arthur became Joker at the end of the first movie, but he hesitates to embrace the character here. Is that because he was in jail or does this movie just need a plot line to explore? Both movies claim to defy conventions of super hero movies, and I like how this subverts expectations from the start. It defies the genre, and even the conclusion subverts expectations. Arthur has never been the Joker we've seen in various other adaptations, and the ending accounts for the difference.