Joker: Folie À Deux review: The joke is on you

What’s next for the Joker in a world where there’s no Batman yet? Todd Phillips’ Phenomenon 2019 joker is still set in Gotham City and concerns the wealthy Wayne family, but sets the story years before son Bruce might first don the cowl, in a supposedly more realistic universe – and leaves an ending with Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) in full costume with the number 1 appears The contact point is the Arkham State Hospital. The idea that this standalone origin story would still inspire a big-budget sequel initially seemed like a betrayal of the ethics of serious filmmaking. But a film about the Joker unleashed is also compatible with the recurring image in several Phoenix films of the actor desperately searching for an uncertain freedom. The Joker is forever on the run – “chasing cars,” as the Heath Ledger version describes it – and with such a spectacular public debut, no institution could truly hold him. What Joker: Foil A Dex assumes: Maybe it could?

Phillips and his co-writer Scott Silver return to Arthur with a sequel in a surprising ’80s style. Now, instead of being attacked, harassed, and overlooked by the enemy city around him while he mentally shuts down, Arthur is attacked, harassed, and monitored by the enemy system that surrounds him while, yes, mentally shutting down. Arthur is mistreated by guards led by Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson) as he awaits his murder trial in Arkham’s maximum security wing. He still longs for the love and understanding that has eluded him, even though he has many fans on the outside.

It turns out he has one inside, too: He meets Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) while walking through a lower-security area of ​​the facility, where she was incarcerated for less murderous reasons. Lee – short for Harleen, which can also be shortened to Harley if you’re not familiar with some key Batman/Joker lore – recognizes Arthur and sees him as a soul mate. In classic meta-sequel fashion, she reads as a fan of the first film; When she begins a sentence with “When I first saw Joker…” she’s referring to seeing Arthur’s clown-painted alter ego on TV, but it sounds like she’s talking about her first sighting of a particular nominee speak for the best film. (This Arthur was only shown in a presumably cheesy TV movie that was mentioned repeatedly but never seen.)

During their first conversation, the two troubled souls exchange whispered, warbling bars of “Get Happy,” a Judy Garland signature tune. Their de facto first date involves watching the Fred Astaire musical The band wagon (Arkham’s film programmers have surprising credibility as cinephiles!), although the film is interrupted by a fire that Lee starts. Soon they are victorious, the film’s images are projected onto them like heavenly light and they perform song and dance routines that may have been at least partially staged in their heads.

Yes, that joker The sequel is a musical, so to speak. It’s also a courtroom drama of sorts – and that qualification doesn’t come from an unwillingness to put in the hours. In fact, viewers may feel like they’ve spent days or weeks in the dreary courtroom where Arthur’s murder trial continues. In some scenes, several characters from the first film are even brought back to revisit the events in a toned down form, such as a less funny version of the film Seinfeld Series finale. The “somehow” factor isn’t so much due to the courtroom as it is to the drama, which is in short supply throughout as much of the film is based on incomprehensible story details that don’t make much sense. Perhaps this is a callback to Arthur’s delusions in the first film; There are several points at which hallucinations would be the clearest explanation for the characters’ behavior and reactions to one another.

What lasts Joker: Foil A Dex On the other hand, it’s harder to say whether the film will become a full-fledged musical, because that’s the only area in which the film indulges its blatant fantasy and isn’t just kind of stupid. Phillips never seemed like a filmmaker with a particular affinity for the musical form, and yet he’s a real eye-catcher The band wagon all over the faces of Joker and Lee – and also stages some fascinating minimalist duets between the seductively unlikely Phoenix and Gaga. A violent courtroom fantasy has a particularly dreamlike appeal, perhaps because it interrupts another tedious trial scene. There’s also a vaudeville parody and an imaginary nightclub; These sequences take their inspiration further than any Scorsese karaoke from the first film.

At least they do, until Phillips inevitably restricts them. (The lengthier courtroom number is a welcome exception.) Phillips is strangely anxious to bring Arthur back to reality, giving the usual implied lecture about musicals that sell escapist nonsense using poor Lady Gaga as his instrument. They take on a role that is largely defined by the character’s voice – their origins Batman: The Animated Series are thanks in large part to actress Arleen Sorkin’s vocalizations – Gaga sidesteps her reputation as an art diva and plays a quieter Harley Quinn than her flashier predecessors. Even her powerful singing voice is often subdued, giving her musical performances a trembling beauty, as if she’s excitedly working up the courage to fully ignite. Over in the real world, she channels her obsession with Arthur in custom-made proto-Harley costumes and beams from the sidelines at her beloved slash hero, who is emboldened by her love to screw up in court (much to his dismay). lawyer, ungratefully played by Catherine Keener).

But that’s exactly the problem: Joker: Foil A Dex works overtime to keep Arthur and Lee apart, while also ensuring that the only truly exciting parts of the film don’t actually play out in full. There are certainly reasons for this construction – they have to do primarily with the extreme thinness of Lee’s character, in keeping with the dark view of women as deceitful, opportunistic manipulators that prevails in other Todd Phillips films. (This version of Harley Quinn is easily the most interesting woman in all of his films, and he inherited her.)

But there’s no need to worry; It’s not just Harley Quinn fans who will be upset and possibly offended by the filmmaker’s sour moods. The extent to which Phillips subverts fan expectations would be admirable if Joker: Foil A Dex wasn’t anything like a slog either – and if not, every creative decision felt strangely callous, as if one were viewing one’s own reference points with seething contempt, even though they were being examined through the capable lens of cinematographer Lawrence Sher. As before, empty pastiches abound: the film opens with a Looney Tunes-esque cartoon that doesn’t bother to imitate the art or gag style of a true Warner Bros. classic. While the Wayne family made half-hearted comic connections in the first film, Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) plays a pointless role here. The specific era of pre-rock standards evoked by many song choices never fully pays off. Joaquin Phoenix, who won a damn Oscar for this role last time, spends an inordinate amount of time throwing his head back while taking a long drag on a cigarette. Does Phillips enjoy even a minute of it? Is he mad at the people who do this? Joker: Foil A Dex divides its nothing neatly across different target group segments and ensures that hardly anyone is satisfied. It is almost a perverse joke worthy of its subject matter – or it would be if this Joker actually made more jokes. Instead, the desire for alienation seems to stem from both Phillips’ vision of the character and possibly the filmmaker’s own feelings of persecution after the comedy: he has no choice but to turn his greatest success of all time into another tragic mess.

Director: Todd Phillips
Writer: Scott Silver, Todd Phillips
With: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz
Release date: October 4, 2024