Elizabeth Clemens

Specific scene review warning ⛔️ Trigger warning to victims of rape and sexual abuse: There is a rape scene with The Guards of Arkham and the Joker…it adds zero value to the film, is disgusting, and I cannot believe they chose to go there in this film. This rape scene exists ONLY as a shock value gimmick…it’s sh$&y and low brow writing and directing. Overall Movie review: Not worth the theater experience for your time and money. I was looking forward to liking this movie even more than the first. The directorial handle on the perfectly orchestrated chaos that collided at the crescendo of the first film, lost its grip. The very beginning of the film starts you off wondering if this really is the Final Cut (at the beginning of the film a random Warner Brothers vintage styled cartoon of the Joker character is played…it has no segue…and completely lacks any context). The patchwork experience of Folie a Deux will leave you confused and sad through; The plot line that is less of a line and more like spaghetti thrown at the wall, character development that is presumptive and relies on 20th century stereotypes in a lazy way, singing??? Not bad enough to be convinced there is a mental illness disadvantage at play and not good enough at points of psychosis to justify the singing at all, heavy “borrowing” from Mid Century musicals to shabbily glue the screen play together, a Shawshank Redemption stylized internment facility’s little bother created through Ward E of Arkham’s Asylum and its over the top pugilistic guards, court room scenes which Joker’s southern man’s attorney personality and voice lean way too hard into To Kill a Mockingbird’s Atticus Finch, and last but not least a dynamic of all consuming love between Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn and The Joker…once you get to the end of the film it’s hard not to think they tear apart a well constructed character in Joker to give Lady Gaga a stage to perform on…a stage that has proven Oscar worthy in the last film. You could truly get lost in trying to commit to any of the rabbit holes provided to develop a sense of chaos…but there is no provocation for the audience to explore…only a disappointed feeling that somewhere else, you’ve been here before. The worst part is they actually managed to obliterate the unique value that an individual struggling with mental illness played in the first Joker. In Folie a Deux it is like the lid was blown off Pandora’s box of character development and mental illness. They just could not stop the free fall into the complete hell that someone with mental illness faces…to then know the Protagonist has acknowledged they will soon be facing an eternal mortal hell….so they lazily hand Arthur Fleck the choice to give up. If you loved the first Joker don’t watch Folie a Deux…EVER If you were neutral or felt so-so for the first Joker and are curious about Folie a Deux…wait till it streams and is released on digital. This movie is not worth paying to see them destroy Arthur Fleck and the power that evolved from all his pain…the Joker.