Joker: Folie À Deux Movie Review Rating:
Star Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendon Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Harvey Dent
Director: Todd Phillips
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What’s Good: Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga’s performance, the intensity of the courtroom scenes, the background score, the cinematography, the costume, and the makeup also continue to impress.
What’s Bad: The inculcation of the musical element in the movie ruins its essence, the placement of the song and dance number, even as a dream sequence looks like a misplacement, no nuanced character development for Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn, the soundtracks do not strike a chord.
Loo Break: Except for the courtroom scene, you can opt for a loo break, which will not cause much loss.
Watch or Not?: DC and Joker fans will definitely watch this one at least once but do not get your hopes too high.
Language: English
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 138 Minutes
User Rating:
Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker (Joaquin Phoenix), is now serving prison time for murdering five people, including Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) on live television. As the days lead to his trial, everyone is divided upon his motives and psyche. While some sympathize with him as a victim of his childhood traumas, others celebrate him as a martyr and a celebrity. But for some, he is downright a cold-blooded killer who is hiding behind the garb of a split-personality disorder. He meets the deranged and eccentric Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga), a fellow inmate who has been locked up for setting fire to her parent’s apartment. However, she also has some skeletons in her closet, which draws her closer to Fleck or, rather, his alter-ego, the Joker. The duo soon start a whirlwind romance wherein they promise to build a ‘mountain’ together. As Arthur’s trial begins and the statements of the opposing witnesses are revealed, his dark side threatens to retake control.
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Joker: Folie À Deux Movie Review: Script Analysis
Joker: Folie à Deux director and writer Todd Phillips along with co-writer Scott Silver, think brilliantly when they decide to start the movie with an animated sketch of Joker’s ‘shadow’ entrapping him into committing some crimes for which he is ultimately captured and sent to prison. It gives a sound insight into Arthur Fleck’s inner trauma and demons which led to him transitioning into the Joker. The writing during the courtroom scenes brings out the inner turmoil and anxieties of the protagonist as he learns about a rather treacherous revelation of his relationship with his mother. However, we wish there was better character development for Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn.
Her motives for getting overly bewitched by Arthur are not delved into deeply. There was a lot of potential to delve deep into her inner psyche and bring out the motivations surrounding her actions. Her scenes were just reduced to some misplaced musical numbers. There was also room for exploring Arthur’s love-hate relationship with the prison guards, especially Brendan Gleeson’s Jackie Sullivan. The screenplay escapes the monotone of the first half and paces up toward the end, but the ending still does not evoke the riveting emotions that the original movie does.
Joker: Folie À Deux Movie Review: Star Performance
Joaquin Phoenix once again hits the ball out of the park. The pathos, frustration, confusion, and vulnerability in his performance are intact. He especially shines in the courtroom scene, and his energy is unparalleled even in the otherwise monotonous musical sequences. We just wish the screenplay and the overall execution had done justice to Pheonix’s hard work and determination into portraying the character. Lady Gaga, as the new and anticipated addition, does justice to her character. But we don’t see us rooting for her Harley Quinn because of a lousy character development and her relevance being limited to the musical sequences. However, the actress-singer shares a magnetic chemistry with Pheonix. Brendon Gleeson and Catherine Keener shine in their respective roles. It was also a visual treat to see Leigh Gill reprise his role as Gary Puddles from the OG film.
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Joker: Folie À Deux Movie Review: Direction, Music
Todd Philips’s attempt to curate a riveting courtroom drama that takes ahead the story of the DC’s iconic villain was an honest attempt. It does evoke a sense of sympathy for Arthur Fleck, who was subjected to acute physical and sexual abuse, which ultimately led to the birth of the Joker. But there is no polite way of saying it was a rash idea to turn this into a musical. The placement of the musical scenes, even during the dream sequences, looked misplaced and illogical. One of the most laughable and awkward scenes has to be Arthur Fleck and Harley Quinn breaking into an impromptu song and dance during a prison break scene. The soundtracks barring ‘For Once In My Life’, do not evoke a strong emotion. Joker: Folie à Deux indeed falls under the musical genre, and there were profound efforts towards the same, but somewhere, the marriage of a dark psychological thriller and a musical fell flat. But kudos to Joaquin Pheonix and Lady Gaga for being effortless with their vocals, and a shoutout to music director Hildur Guonadottir. The cinematography by Lawrence Sher is also nuanced.
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Joker: Folie À Deux Movie Review: The Last Word
Joker: Folie à Deux had much potential to be as riveting as its first part. Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga shine nevertheless with the flaws of the movie. We just wish that the musical touch could have been kept at bay, or at least their placement appeared with more logic and rationale.
2.5 Star
Joker: Folie À Deux Trailer
Joker: Folie À Deux released on 2nd October, 2024.
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The post Joker: Folie à Deux Movie Review: Joaquin Phoenix & Lady Gaga Shine Bright But The Misplaced Musical Scenes & A Monotonous Screenplay Does More Harm Than Good! appeared first on Koimoi.
