“Joker: Folie Ą Deux” Movie Review by Rafy Mediavilla (@Rmediavilla) #Joker2 #JokerFolieADeux #JoaquinPhoenix #LadyGaga
From acclaimed writer/director/producer Todd Phillips comes “Joker: Folie Ą Deux,” the much-anticipated follow-up to 2019’s Academy Award-winning “Joker,” which earned more than $1 billion at the global box office and remains the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. The new film stars Joaquin Phoenix once again in his Oscar-winning dual role as Arthur Fleck/Joker, opposite Oscar winner Lady Gaga (“A Star Is Born”).
“Joker: Folie Ą Deux” finds Arthur Fleck institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that’s always been inside him.
What did not work:
Right off the bat, “Joker: Folie Ą Deux” is a musical with all the aspects that define a musical movie, meaning when a denouement or interogante that occurs as the story unfolds in the movie leads you to a musical arrangement that gives you the answer. And my initial problem with this strategy was that they didn’t know how to balance the plot with the musical arrangements like musical movies such as “Les Miserables”, and “La La Land”. Something that really detracts or maybe it’s better to say they don’t go along with the main characters of their story, taking into consideration that they are two psychopaths.
That said, the story is also a love story between these two psychopaths intertwined with what in sequences can be catalogued as an extended episode of “Court TV” or perhaps “Law And Order” of course with all the good and bad that comes with it when we are talking about a case as macabre and town as Arthur Fleck’s was. Understand this constant clash of perspectives between people who simply wish death to the individual and these people who idolize the character he represents, Joker. So all in all this can be seen as a double-edged sword, if the musical factor doesn’t work for everyone, I personally didn’t feel that this story factor worked as well.
Lady Gaga as this version of Harley Quinzel although she starts off extremely underdeveloped as she develops we see a bit more of her character’s background although I admit she was never fully developed to make it feel genuine enough in my opinion. Of course and as expected in the musical arrangements she shines, and maybe this is the main reason why they went for the line of a musical movie, since at all times we are looking for her to shine.
Now if we talk about the musical arrangements, none of them really stand out as impactful, or memorable. And again, this is a gigantic problem that doesn’t help this project shine as a musical. The combination of a story that has no direction, and musical arrangements that are simply not memorable, is a formula that doesn’t promise to fulfill the expectations of movie music lovers, as well as fans of these iconic DC Comics characters.
What worked:
I have to applaud that they subtly managed to subtly give Joker and Harley Quien’s characters very distinctive touches in terms of how fans know them from the comics and animated movies. And even though there are very few of them, I understand that these moments are going to bring out those surprised faces in these people who have been loyal fans of these characters since their beginnings. Just like the original, the photography, the visuals, this New York turned into Gotham City, and Arkham shines.
I also have to highlight Joaquin Phoenix’s performance, where he shines from beginning to end playing these two very different characters, just as we saw in the original. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Joaquin Phoenix in the conversation again come awards season next year, as with this project Phoenix proved that as an actor he can do it all.
Conclusion:
In closing, I am more than clear that this movie will give much to talk about in the aspect that being a musical will not be liked by many people, and as a sequel to Joker, which for many met many of our expectations, they will leave the theaters with long faces, and not very happy with the direction they wanted to give to this sequel.
Video Review:
Trailer:
