It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years since the release of Todd Phillips’ Joker. Whether you loved it or hated it, the movie’s status as a phenomenon is undeniable. Not only did it become the highest grossing R-rated movie (at the time), but it was hard to escape since it premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the prestigious Golden Lion Award. Regardless of what any individual felt, it got a lot of people talking and even became a bit of a hot-button political issue.

While the movie was initially meant to be a standalone film, the fact that it grossed a billion dollars meant that a sequel – here titled Joker: Folie à Deux – was inevitable, whether we wanted it or not. While I certainly liked the first film, it’s not something I have ever been interested in revisiting. I immediately rolled my eyes when the sequel was officially announced two years ago, but the Little Monster in me perked up when it was revealed that not only would Lady Gaga be playing Harley Quinn, but that the follow-up would be a musical.

Even so, I had my reservations. The first movie felt like an event that needed to be seen as soon as possible. Whereas the sequel never seemed to recapture any of that spark in the marketing. Yes, the first movie was basically just a Martin Scorsese homage with a Batman theme, but it also showed the iconic Clown Prince of Crime in a whole new light.

Folie à Deux takes place two years after Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) donned the clown makeup and shot talk show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) live on television, inciting a riot in Gotham. Arthur’s now being held up in Arkham Asylum, where his confidence as the Joker has now faded, mainly keeps to himself, smoking cigarettes with one of the guards, Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson), whose friendly demeanor is a facade for his cruel streak.

Arthur has also been receiving guidance from his lawyer, Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener), for his upcoming trial. Maryanne is insistent that his persona as Joker wasn’t really him, but a product of his severe mental illness and traumatic childhood. Arthur seems ready to die, but he finds purpose once he meets Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga) in a musical therapy class at Arkham. The two are instantly smitten with each other, and Lee is a bit of a Joker fangirl, to put it lightly. 

As Arthur’s trial begins, Lee gives him a sense of purpose again and plays a major part in his trial, where she hopes he can bring chaos to the streets of Gotham once more. Unlike the first Joker, which felt very derivative of movies like Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, Joker: Folie à Deux doesn’t just feel like it’s ripping off another Scorsese movie. Phillips, who wrote the screenplay along with Scott Silver, is making some bold swings with this sequel. It’s debatable whether or not the chances he takes are effective, but it is admirable nonetheless.

As you probably already expected, Phoenix turns in another triumphant performance as the lead character. While it is disappointing to see the character going back to square one for a large portion of the film, he still brings that same uneasy and disturbed demeanor that he successfully channeled in the first film – which resulted in an Oscar win for Lead Actor. Despite what the marketing may have you believe, this is still wholly Phoenix’s show, with everyone else playing second fiddle.

Yes, that even means Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn, or I guess Lee, as she goes by in this incarnation. Gaga does a phenomenal job as the character, and her performance is without question one of the movie’s biggest assets. While Phoenix’s presumably intentional off-tune vocal chords can get grating after a while, Gaga’s voice never gets old. Much like Phoenix with Arthur, Gaga portrays the character in such an unpredictable nature, and despite the script not giving much to the character, it’s the performance that makes her so fascinating.

The problem is that Gaga is incredibly sidelined and frankly, underwritten. The character’s sole personality trait is that she is obsessed with the Joker. While it could be argued that that’s how the character has been portrayed for years, we already know that Phillips doesn’t give a damn about the lore from the comics. If you want to hype yourself up about reinventing an iconic character, then actually do something interesting. While Lee does play a prominent role in the movie’s narrative and Arthur’s journey, nothing is intriguing about the character’s personality.

One of the strongest aspects of the predecessor was Lawrence Sher’s impeccable cinematography, and he has clearly one-upped himself with the sequel. On a technical level, Joker: Folie à Deux is marvelous, Sher’s camerawork paired with the production design perfectly blends the disgusting halls of Arkham, the chaotic streets of Gotham City, and the fantastical and dreamlike musical sequences. Similarly to Megalopolis, the movie is still immensely watchable, even if it’s not always working.

Though most of the musical sequences are dazzling to look at, they add nothing to the movie and feel like they were sloppily thrown in. While the covers of pre-existing songs aren’t nearly as distracting as I feared they would be, it also just felt like Phillips and Silver just wanted to throw in any old song that mentions clowns, jokes, love, or smiling. Almost none of it progresses the story in a meaningful way.

The decisions made in the second half of Folie à Deux will, without question, prove to be immensely polarizing, even amongst those who loved the first movie. Phillips pulls no punches with the finale, but it ultimately fails to leave any impact. While the climax between Joker and Murray in the first movie was tense and gripping, there’s nothing in the sequel that can recapture that lightning in a bottle. Instead of leaving the theater shaking or on edge, I just felt empty.

Joker: Folie à Deux isn’t some colossal trainwreck that some may paint it out to be. I was never necessarily bored at any point in the movie, thanks to the colorful visual style. However, while the warts in Phillips and Silver’s script were present in the 2019 movie, they’re almost impossible to ignore here.

At the end of the day, it would have been best to just have left that first movie stay a standalone story.

Joker: Folie à Deux will be in theaters nationwide on October 4.

OSCAR POTENTIAL:

• This won’t recapture the previous film’s winning streak at the 2020 Academy Awards, but it does seem like a shoo-in to get nominated for Best Makeup & Hairstyling, Best Production Design, Best Costumes, and Best Sound. A nomination for Best Cinematography is also possible.
• While Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in the first film did land him his first Academy Award win, it’s hard to see him even securing a nomination this time around. Especially with all the negative publicity surrounding his recent abrupt exit from the now cancelled Todd Haynes’ film.
• Outside of Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Perez and Danielle Deadwyler for The Piano Lesson, the Best Supporting Actress race is wide open. So maybe there’s a chance that Lady Gaga could sneak in and land a nomination. But it seems unlikely at this point.
• While the box office usually doesn’t matter in terms of awards, Folie à Deux already doesn’t feel like it’ll make nearly as big of a splash as its predecessor, which undoubtedly helped it in the end.