My Review of "Joker: Folie à Deux"

Joker: Folie à Deux has finally arrived. I've actually been looking forward to this movie for quite some time. Needless to say, it was one of my highly anticipated movies for 2024. Maybe I had high expectations but this one didn't quite hit the mark. That's not to say there weren't some nice elements to this movie.

It all starts off not too long after the events of the first movie. In fact, I feel that this movie leans quite heavily on the first movie. If you haven't seen the first movie you might feel like you've missed a lot. To that answer, yes, you have missed a lot. In some ways, this movie feels like a summary of the first movie a lot. They repeatedly make references back to the first movie and it almost feels like a crutch at some points. Maybe it's to keep the audience up to date without having to watch the first one.

Arthur, aka the Joker, is now in a mental institute at Arkham Asylum. He's again being abused but this time by guards. This time he's majorly subdued because he's taking medication to dull down his mental instabilities. This kind of reminds me of the regular grind that everyone has to go through in everyday life.

He continues with this process until one of the guards puts him into a choir as a prank. There Arthur meets Lee who eventually becomes his love interest of the movie. Lee is a mysterious character who adores Arthur but she is one screw loose as well. How can you trust people in a mental ward right? Well, these two hit it off and she kind of brings the Joker back out of Arthur.

As this is going on, Arthur is finally going to trial for the crimes of the first movie. His lawyer is trying to figure out a way for him to avoid the death penalty but this game of tug of war with her and Arthur's sanity starts to brood little by little.

Again, there's a ton of potential with this movie. It has all of the pieces that would make a great Joker movie. I love how they make the juxtaposition of Arthur and his Joker counterpart into a battle with celebrity and recognition. It kind of mirrors the reality of today and the advent of social media. People are different to the public because that's what they want and everyone wants to be recognized. The problem is that sometimes that celebrity image isn't yours.

The second element I really liked is the concept of repercussions. Arthur isn't an innocent man. Although they make him out to be an everyday person he still went on a murder spree. He has to suffer the consequences of his actions and he really does. We feel bad for him but there were better ways of dealing with what he did. There's a moment that he realizes that his actions did have consequences and he feels remorse for what he did. I thought that was really well thought out.

This movie is also a musical. There are a number of songs that are played out. Some may wonder why they let Joker sing. We have to hear him as a non-professional singer because he's an everyday person. In some ways, they made this movie a little too realistic in logic. These are the only parts where I thought they might have benefited by thinking of the audience entertainment a little bit better. This is the majority of the movie and if I don't like hearing a high school choir for free, why would I want to pay money to watch a man with the same talents sing by himself?

The visuals are utterly breathtaking. This movie is absolutely beautiful and it was very shot exquisitely. There are a ton of cool sound effects throughout the movie that help you get immersed in the atmosphere as well. Though they are nuanced, I think you'll appreciate the snide comments in the court or in the insane asylum.

Overall, it pains me to say that this movie wasn't as entertaining as I was hoping. It had all the elements of being a great movie but the execution failed. I loved tons of aspects but was utterly bored while watching it. That's why I have to give this movie a 5.5 out of 10.