Joker: Folie à Deux Movie Review (NO SPOILER)

Dan Dinh and Cole Montag

October 22, 2024

Joker 2 Poster

Background

One of the most anticipated musicals and comic book movies of the year, Warner Bros. and DC Studios has dropped the new sequel to the renowned 2019 Joker movie, which is one of Warner Bros.’s top highest grossing movies, coming in at 5th place. But the question arises, does the sequel carry the legacy and high success of the first one? Controversy over the movie being a musical has left many fans questioning the quality of it. Turns out as of right now Joker 2 has the lowest CinemaScore for a comic book movie of all time. But here are the opinions of two fans of the first movie!

Review

Dan D.

I came into the theater with an open mind after hearing many other negative opinions on the internet. I also rewatched the first movie the day before to be sure I actually understood it, but it was a real lackluster.

The movie is an exploration of Arthur Fleck’s self and mind, the musicals representing his delusions and thoughts. The musical aspect was actually really good in certain parts, but it felt like they were trying to make sure you knew at every second of the movie that it was a musical. You would be super into the plot, leaning forward and really focused on what’s going on before they just hit you with a silly song for no reason, making it really annoying to watch at times. Though sometimes the musical fit the moment perfectly, however, I believe the negatives still outweigh the positives.

Another thing is the overall plot; the best way to describe it without going into plot details is that the movie would have been great if it was titled “Arthur Fleck” rather than “The Joker.” Unlike the first movie, where we see the growth of the Joker character, here we really explore the character of Arthur Fleck himself.

Though the musicals did not fit into some parts of the movie, the songs themselves were really enjoyable. I even have some of the songs on my personal playlist. But the overall movie was alright—not what I expected and not my taste.

Cole M.

Just hours before watching Folie à Deux, I watched the first Joker film from 2019 for the first time, and I loved it. In all honesty, I am glad I only had a few hours of anticipation, because I cannot imagine the disappointment of those who waited 5 years for this film.

Most of this movie was plain unenjoyable, and what little I enjoyed was not because of Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix creating the movie on napkins and dreams. This was a jukebox musical, but it wasn’t necessary to understand Arthur Fleck, like the director said; it was a way to increase the runtime. While the songs were nice, and both Phoenix and Lady Gaga are good singers and dancers, that’s about it.

The rest of the movie that wasn’t a 75-year-old song was just a letdown. Without spoiling any plot details, it undoes a lot of Arthur’s character development, almost as if Todd Phillips wanted to cross DC one last time. Its direction didn’t really align with its predecessor’s, and the ending was the final nail in the coffin. Overall, it’s not the worst movie of the year, but it failed to give a passable follow-up to the original, nonetheless a good one.

The Tribe

The Tribe

The Tribe

Joker: Folie à Deux Movie Review (NO SPOILER)

Background

Review

The Tribe

Comments (0)