Joker was easily my top film of 2019 so when news that a sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, was to be released in 2024 even the news that it was going to be a musical didn’t dampen my spirits as I do like a good musical.
Sometimes the anticipation is better than actual reveal as Joker: Folie à Deux, directed again by Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix as Joker, has to go down as something of a disappointment. Slow to the point of almost crawling along, the musical numbers really serve no purpose other than slowing the already slow plot down and extending the runtime unnecessarily to well over two hours.
Beginning with the nice touch of Warner Bros cartoon featuring Arthur Fleck as the Joker the story after that picks up pretty much straight after the events in 2019’s Joker.
Arthur Fleck (Joker) is now locked up Arkham Asylum awaiting trial for the murders in the first film. Here he’s watched over by numerous guards including Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson, his agent really needs to stop getting him roles where he is in prison as every time you see him his character Knuckles McGinty from Paddington 2 keeps springing to mind). Sullivan, thinking that music might knock Arthur out of his malaise. It’s here at the music class where Arthur meets (Lady Gaga) who’s committed after burning down her parents' apartment.
Most of the story thereafter takes place within the courtroom where Arthur, or is he Joker, is on trial with the death penalty a strong possibility if he’s found guilty. Joker: Folie à Deux pretty much goes over old ground from Joker as a number of witnesses to Jokers murders go over the killings, Zazie Beetz pops back up as Arthurs neighbour whilst Leigh Gill is terrific as he reprises his role as Gary Puddles.
Joaquin Phoenix is again terrific but really struggles to bring anything new to his character, if anything his performance is rather more restrained than the one he gave in 2019 whilst Lady Gaga feels underused, out with the musical numbers she’s restricted to sitting in the courtroom as Arthur is on trial.
Joker: Folie à Deux isn’t a bad film but given the standards that was set in 2019 it has to go down as something of a disappointment.