Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

Todd Philips returns to Gotham, scene of his award winning Joker (2019) to perhaps ill advisedly supply us with a sequel to his Scorsese pastiche of Taxi Driver (1979) meets The King of Comedy (1982) in the world of DC's most famous creation. This perhaps reads like I was no fan of Joker- in fact quite the opposite; it was one of my favourite films of 2019, despite it not being the masterpiece that some claimed.

Joker: Folie à Deux sees Joaquin Phoenix return as the clown prince of crime, locked up in Arkham State Hospital awaiting trial for the crimes committed in the initial film; and the story so far is reprised in a superb animated sequence at the beginning of the film, really making you sit up and take notice of where this film might go (whether you know it's going to be a musical or not). This is followed by Joker: Folie à Deux's strongest segment; the film's opening twenty minutes or so, showcasing Arthur Fleck's (Pheonix) incarcerated existence, are bonkers, dark, and call to mind Joker's strongest attributes.

But just when you feel like the film is going to enter total derangement as it saunters into musical sequences with the arrival of Lady Gaga's Harleen Quinzel, and threatens to become a true experience, it draws back from the cliff, ultimately failing to tip over into full madness; a move that would have hugely benefited Phillip's sequel.

There's another infamous Batman character unveiled as Harvey Dent's DA (Harry Lawtey) who wants the electric chair for Arthur whilst Catherine Keener's Maryanne tries to defend him, claiming his diminished responsibility thanks to his abusive upbringing. The appearance of Dent is utterly worthless, and Lawtey just comes off as rather smug and annoying, a far cry from Aaron Eckhart's convincing portrayal in The Dark Knight (2008). This all drags out in a rather bizarre courtroom drama style, the culmination of which once again leaves you scratching your head somewhat.

Of course this isn't a Batman film so these comparisons are perhaps unfair, but then again don't invite the contrast with a needles insertion of such a character.

Much has been made of Phillips' bold decision to make Folie à Deu a musical, and getting Lady Gaga on board seems a sensible move considering she's an excellent actress as well as a hugely talented singer and musician. She sells her character well, and we fully believe in her narcissism and troubled mind, but there's so much more to unpack with this character and we're simply not given enough backstory to truly engage with where she's coming from, which makes the film's last few minutes not quite as hard hitting as they should be.

Generally in the comic books and previous adaptations (most notably the superb Batman: The Animated Series [1992-1995]) Harley Quinn (for all intents and purposes here) is obsessed with and badly abused by the Joker, so it's interesting and a welcome change to see these roles essentially reversed here. Again though, Folie à Deux's strengths in its decision making are undone by not following them through to their true batshit crazy potential. When Joker: Folie à Deux is good it's very good, but these moments mainly end up just reminding you how good its predecessor was.

Phillips' film has been kicked around town by many critics, many of which have labelled it absolutely terrible, but it's so obviously not-that just feels like people have been criticising it for the sake of it. The most irritating thing about Joker: Folie à Deux is that considering I was incredibly apprehensive about a sequel that was simply not needed- the opening quarter proves that there was something to work with here, including the musical aspect of it. In the end Folie à Deux doesn't justify its existence which is a real shame; but I enjoyed it whilst it was in front of me, and feeling as frustrated as I did with its mishaps meant that there was genuinely good things in there. 6.8/10