| Worth seeing: | if you want a comic-book adaptation where almost nothing happens, told as a musical |
| Director: | Todd Phillips |
| Featuring: | Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Bill Smitrovich, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Harry Lawtey, Ken Leung, Leigh Gill, Steve Coogan, Zazie Beetz |
| Length: | 138 minutes |
| Certificate: | 15 |
| Country: | US |
| Released: | 4th October 2024 |
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Awkward nobody Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is being detained at Gotham City’s much-feared Arkham Asylum, awaiting trial for five murders.
His lawyer Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener) is trying to persuade him to plead not guilty by virtue of insanity, claiming that he has split personalities and the murders were actually committed by his more flamboyant alter ego, known to the whole of Gotham as the Joker.
When prison guard Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson) takes him to a music therapy session in another part of the institution, he meets a female inmate, Harleen Quinzel (Lady Gaga), a huge fan of the Joker.
The pair fall in love and the authorities swiftly release her to keep the pair apart. But she promises to attend every day of his trial, so that they can be together.
But the District Attorney, Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey), is a formidable prosecutor and Arthur might need to come up with another plan if he ever hopes to be free again.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
Todd Phillips first foray into the world of the Joker was a fine, effective drama, examining the psyche of a disturbed individual but ensuring that the viewer could identify with his psychopathy.
It left us wanting more, so Phillips conceived a follow-up – that doesn’t offer us more. It offers us something completely different. And far less compelling.
Very little happens over the course of more than two hours – Arthur Fleck waits for his trial and then goes on trial – that’s basically it. He has an improbable relationship with a fan – improbable, not least, because in no believable world would a female convict be allowed into the cell of a man, awaiting trial for murder, to say goodbye.
Or was she? Much of what happens in this film is ambiguous as to whether it really happens – or whether it’s a figment of his imagination. But much of this is so central to the plot, that if it isn’t actually happening, the whole plot is in his head.
There’s unexpected warmth to be found in the initial moments of the relationship between Arthur Fleck and the woman that fans of the DC Comics would know better as Harlequin, as they bond over a love of music and singing. There’s another moment, soon afterwards, when the pair break into song, clearly in a dream sequence. But then there’s another song. And another. Some are covers of familiar classics – others original to this film.
A moment comes where you suddenly realise that rather than watching a drama about a character who uses music to escape from the darkness of his lost life, you’re actually watching a full-blown musical. And not one of those musicals where the songs carry the narrative – the songs often feel they get in the way and slow things down. Aside from a couple of theatrical numbers that provide some much-needed colour – and life – most of the songs feel like they are there chiefly to make up the running time.
When your perception of a film shifts midway through, it can leave you feeling somewhat disorientated – and cheated. But it’s never really clear what you’re watching. It’s set within the familiar DC world of Batman’s Gotham City, with a handful of familiar characters – chiefly Harlequin and Harvey Dent – but there’s no super-hero antics, no super-villain plotting, no action more than an accused murderer waiting for the wheels of justice to turn. Crucially, we don’t really learn any more about Arthur, the Joker or Gotham City than we did in the previous film.
Lady Gaga is obviously more comfortable with the singing than Joaquin Phoenix, who is more convincing as the prisoner struggling with his mental health and as his flamboyant alter ego than he is as a song-and-dance showman.
Towards the end is a scene which nods tantalisingly to its predecessor – as the Joker’s notoriety wakes the film up for a few moments – before it stumbles towards its inevitably nihilistic denouement.
Joker: Folie à Deux – a reference to a psychiatric condition shared by two people – has so much potential, coming off the back of the 2019 origin story, with the addition of Lady Gaga and Brendan Gleeson to the cast, but it fails to live up to its expectations, instead leading the audience on an unsatisfactory journey through various genres, without ever being engaging, exciting or even interesting.
It’s rather a bit of a pointless disappointment. Todd Phillips had never intended to make a second Joker film – this feels like he’s cocking a snook at those who demanded one.