Scott Goldie

Just saw Joker Folie a Deux and as much as I was hoping that Todd Philips would strike gold once again, sadly it didn't happen. There's a lot to like in the film and the first 5 minutes are brilliant. The cinematography is once again amazing, and Phoenix and GaGa are both great. The problem that I had with the film wasn't the songs and the singing and dancing, it's that that there's little reason to care about anything that happens. There's little to no tension throughout film. In the first movie, Philips did a great job of creating tension, and I felt like Fleck could explode into violence or anger or do something completely insane at any moment. In the sequel he is completely neutered. You don't fear him, even though we know he's capable of horrendous acts of violence, it never happens (except in a fantasy musical scene). There's also no one to root for. What does Arthur want? I have no idea. He doesn't seem to want to get out of jail or fight for his freedom, he's just following the paces to his eventual trial where there is little doubt he's going to get convicted. There's also no antagonist in the story. We get the impression that the attorney's are sleazy, but it's not fully realized. If they were presented as selfishly pursuing their own ambitions and didn't really care what happens to Fleck, it would've given me a reason to at least hope that Joker gets some sort of revenge on those taking advantage of him, but we never learn anything about their motivations. The third problem is that the film doesn't revisit the Thomas Wayne angle and whether or not he was indeed Arthur's father. That would've at least tied it back to Bruce Wayne and put us firmly in the DC Universe. Philips created that really intriguing premise about Arthur being an unreliable narrator in the first film keeping the audience guessing at what's fantasy and what's reality. Remember the photo of his mom that Arthur crumbles after he kills his her where Thomas Wayne wrote 'Love your smile.' Were they really romantically connected? There's none of that in the sequel. There's also no great twist, no great reveal, and the ending is predictable with a wrinkle that doesn't quite resonate (I won't give it away if you haven't seen it yet.) The film is not as bad as the critics are saying, and if you loved the first film (as I did) definitely go see it. But I think the most disappointing aspect of the film is that it really has no reason to exist and does nothing to add any new dimension to a fascinating character that brought Joaquin Phoenix a well deserved Oscar.

A dark and disturbing origin tale for arguably the most iconic villain in comic book lore. You can’t prepare for it and you won’t soon forget it. This film is a masterpiece.