Joker 2's biggest problem is it doesn't commit to being a musical
The sequel has plenty of detractors – but its main issues are with its execution, not its approach.
Whatever else you might have thought of the original Joker, no one could deny that Todd Phillips's film provoked a passionate response. It had staunch defenders and fervent naysayers, those who declared it a deep, highly original effort to reinvent the comic book movie and others who labelled it a shallow Martin Scorsese rip-off – or worse, a rallying cry for incels that would lead to a surge of real-life copycats.
In this writer's opinion the answer always lay somewhere in the middle of those extreme poles. It was a well-crafted, rather atmospheric film with an impressive lead performance from Joaquin Phoenix and some terrific stand-out scenes, albeit an undoubtedly derivative one whose observations about mental health were hardly groundbreaking and certainly not profound.
When it ultimately rode a wave of hype to cross $1 billion at the global box office and secure a hoard of Oscar nominations – including wins for Phoenix and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir – it quickly became apparent that a sequel would be inevitable. What was less certain was exactly what approach Phillips might take for the follow-up.
And of all the possibilities, there can't be many punters who would have predicted the film we've ended up with: part musical, part courtroom drama, part tragic love story, Joker: Folie à Deux is also a film that serves as a robust riposte to any fans who lionised and justified Arthur Fleck's behaviour in the original. A daring approach, without question.
The responses have again been extreme, hardly a surprise when we bear in mind how heated the debate got around the first. But what has been interesting to witness are the specific lines of attack that have been used against the film from those that loved the previous one. Some have taken against it purely on the basis of it being a musical, while a more hefty proportion of the detractors have had an issue with the fact they perceive it as a betrayal of the original film, especially given its shocking ending.
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But for my money, the film fails for neither of those reasons. Indeed, on paper, the idea of subverting the previous movie with a musical fantasia sounds like a dream – certainly a more intriguing prospect that simply continuing in the same vein as the original, (which is what one imagines some of those crying loudest about the sequel might have wanted). No, the reason that Joker: Folie à Deux largely fails is not because of its ideas but rather the execution of those ideas.
Much has been made about the stars and director of the film declaring at every opportunity ahead of the release that it was not, in fact a musical. "I wouldn’t necessarily say that this is actually a musical in a lot of ways. It’s very different," Lady Gaga said at the Venice Film Festival, where the film premiered last month. "The way that music is used is to really give the characters a way to express what they needed to say because saying it is not enough."
Gaga's comments were understandably mocked – that's basically the dictionary definition of a musical! – but in a sense, these quotes are pretty instructive of the approach taken by the film. Because while it unquestionably is a musical, it's one that almost seems afraid of being so.
For the most part, the numbers are delivered in such a hushed, sombre, slowed-down manner that they barely register as songs at all, and the rare sequences where it does burst into life – normally courtesy of Gaga – never last nearly long enough. The result is that the songs – largely classics and standards – end up having a flattening effect, with so little variety on show that it's likely to lull you to sleep. One of the most central numbers is That's Entertainment, an iconic song from the wonderful Fred Astaire-starring musical The Band Wagon – but its titular refrain almost feels like it's mocking the audience during the film's most dull stretches.
And that is the word that perhaps best sums up Joker: Folie à Deux – dull. Almost the entire second act is devoted to an interminable, third-rate court room drama that hardly even threatens to provide any of the entertainment its stars were singing about earlier.
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And this is the film's main problem – dedicating so much time to tedious chatter rather than properly leaning into or committing to its musical conceit, especially given how little it gives the hugely talented Gaga to actually do.
Of course, all this isn't to say that it should have been a happy-go-lucky, all-smiling affair – no one is asking for Singin' in the Rain! Indeed, plenty of movie musicals are dark and brooding and deal with tragic themes – Cabaret and both versions of West Side Story being especially notable examples – but they have a dynamism and sense of life to them that Joker: Folie à Deux is sorely lacking.
This film is simply too subdued and muted for its own good, and that is the reason why it fails.
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Joker: Folie à Deux is now showing in cinemas.
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