The original Joker was both critically and commercially lauded as a masterpiece of cinema, and held closely to the hearts of the “sigma males” of the internet. The first Joker quickly permeated popular culture, and cemented itself as a complex, never-seen-before “superhero movie” which was all the more a psychological exploration into Arthur Fleck, and his transformation into the Joker.
It is with a heavy and regretful heart that I share its sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux has absolutely none of what made its predecessor great. Joker: Folie à Deux has a massive identity crisis; a musical, a courtroom drama, and a twisted romance. Unfortunately, none of these conflicting genres is wholly fulfilled and comes across as sloppy.
The original Joker, and Arthur Fleck’s descent into madness was novel. Without that further progression and character development in its sequel, the vast majority of the movie feels boring and contrived, existing without much of a purpose at all and leaving the viewer confused if anything.
I personally found the musical segments the most contrived and confusing. When inside reports were released, revealing the movie was going to have musical elements, I was not one of the many people on Twitter raising my pitchfork in response; I wanted to give the movie a fair chance, as the infusion of music into movies and other projects can work wonderfully.
In Joker: Folie à Deux it does not work. The only way to explain this feeling was an utter and visceral “What am I spending my time watching?”
Not only do I advise against watching Joker: Folie à Deux, I petition the movie should not exist at all, and in my own little bubble, I will try to pretend the movie never was made. I say this as Joker: Folie à Deux actively dismantles the story and horrifying nuance the original painstakingly builds. The entire story of the original Joker was an unsteady mix of the psychology of Arthur Fleck; were the events of the movie entirely in his head, or did they truly happen?
The sequel gets rid of this nuance for a horrible twist ending that left me disappointed I had watched the original to begin with, (something I had never felt watching a sequel before).
Joker: Folie à Deux had a budget of $200 million, and has made $51.5 million domestically. The movie will be released on streaming and DVD this month, October 29th.
