'Joker: Folie à Deux' film review: Iconic villain's encore is a pointless slog
Folie à Deux literally translates into English as 'madness of two.' This is an apt name for the foolish decision to make a second 'Joker' movie, the psychological drama 'Joker: Folie à Deux' (in theaters nationwide Oct. 4).
In short: Struggling with his dual identity, failed comedian Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) meets the love of his life, Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga), while incarcerated at Arkham State Hospital. Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener and Zazie Beetz also star.
The sequel opens with a cartoon that presents Arthur as two personas living within the same person: a downtrodden, mentally ill struggling comedian and a murderous clown. The unsubtly titled 'Me and My Shadow' Looney Tunes-ripoff posits Arthur as the unwitting fall guy paying the price for his shadow's actions.
And this 3-minute cartoon is the most interesting thing to happen in this ill-conceived sequel for the first hour - and arguably the rest of the movie. For a sequel ostensibly about the Clown Prince of Crime, this movie's worst crime is dragging the audience along for a deadly dull slog. It's a film where very little happens - and what little that does happen to nudge the plot along doesn't make much sense.
At least the first film had something to say about an indifferent society's neglect that tipped on disturbed man over the edge. 'Folie à Deux' is a navel-gazing sequel that endlessly rehashes the events of the first movie. From a plot perspective, the sequel justifies this tiring retread of familiar ground by framing the story as the trial of Arthur Fleck for the Joker's crimes. Yet, despite the opportunity to re-examining Arthur Fleck and the events from the 2019 original from a fresh, outside perspective, 'Folie à Deux' is devoid of any revelations.
The 2019 film was referred to as an incel's fantasy played out through a grandiose egomaniacal character who pointed blame for his sad life outward without any much (if any) introspection. And parts of writer-director Todd Phillips' script alludes to the misguided souls who misread the original 'Joker' as some dark call-to-arms for the disenfranchised to rise up - but this meager attempt is half hearted. The first film culminated in Fleck unintentionally inspiring Gotham's descent into madness that paralleled his own all-consuming nihilism. This sequel merely lives in that chaos, acknowledges some Joker acolytes, like Harley Quinn, exist in this chaotic Gotham ... but 'Folie à Deux' never directly or firmly rebukes or justifies their adulation of Joker.
Despite the tantalizing title 'Madness of Two,' this title is a misnomer as the script never realizes the madness of any pair - neither the relationship between Arthur and Harley nor the duality of Arthur and Joker. Harley simply shows up and is devoted to Joker. Spoiler alert: that's it. And Arthur has little, if any, internal conflict between the downtrodden Arthur and the cavalier Joker. There's no battle for one man's soul. Yes there are ebbs and flows - wherein sometimes Arthur seems to be the dominant personality and sometimes Joker seems to be the dominate persona ... but nothing to indicate a principled or emotional schism between the two entities.
Then there's the fact that even just from a plot perspective, not much about the movie makes a lot of sense. Story beats ... just happen - often without cause. Steve Coogan is in this movie in a completely superfluous scene. Catherine Keener is in and out of the story. Arthur makes a significant decision late in his trial proceedings - mostly unearned and seemingly justified by scene that doesn't hit as hard as it should. And finally the trial concludes with a major event - that also seemingly just happens. The fact that district attorney Harvey Dent - who, in the DC Comics, becomes the split-personality Batman villain Two-Face - is included in 'Folie à Deux' as just a prosecutor and ignoring Dent's potential representing duality even within Gotham's best citizens is just a complete fumble.
Prior to this sequel, Reddit was rife was debate whether the Joker's rampage in the 2019 original movie was purely one man's deranged fantasy taking place in his own head. This sequel does at least end one discussion: 'Joker' should have remained a standalone story.
Final verdict: Only a pure narcissist like Arthur Fleck would enjoy such a pointless and self-indulgent sequel.
Score: 2/5
'Joker: Folie à Deux' opens in theaters nationwide Oct. 4. The psychological drama has a runtime of 138 minutes and is rated R for some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, and brief full nudity.
