The original announcement that the sequel to Joker would be a musical was an inspiring idea and when the involvement with Lady Gaga as the presumed role of Harley Quinn was announced, the film was shaping out to be so creative and a dynamic product of blockbuster comic-book adaptations, even beating out the originality that made Joker a cultural landmark of a film.
Though the film’s reluctance to embrace the genre and go all-out as a musical hurts the film and hinders much of its potential, where so many of the different musical numbers within the film are mixed bags. With some of them containing eye-catching production aspects from its technicolour set design to vibrant costuming capturing the essence of what makes a great musical number. By picking songs which relate to the character’s internal feelings and emotions, the film elevates the potential of how a musical sequence can be beneficial for the story which cleverly portrays the larger-than-life emotions of love, passion and rage. Despite these promising elements, so many of these numbers fall flat of expectation and miss marks that would have truly made them remarkable by wrapping up just before the sequence hits its full swing and having the lyrics sound muffled behind the boisterous backing track. This unfortunately makes a lot of musical-inspired aspects among the film only mediocre and good at best.
The overall performances of the two leads – even though Lady Gaga does seem to be such a supporting player with all the material she’s given on screen – is similar to my perception of the film’s musical sequences with the portrayals of Arthur Fleck and Lee contain examples of great character work yet lack the potential to be truly outstanding.
Joaquin Phoenix returning as Arthur Fleck had a high standard to beat after his acclaimed portrayal in the predecessor. Although he does fulfill this expectation to an admirable degree by transforming into the character physically through his performance and with channeling both frustration and anguish into the character’s intense scenes. Though the musical set-up would have seemed like a fascinating way to explore the character’s delirious head space, it was not used effectively to compliment Phoenix’s performance, along with some questionable choices in the third act and an even more questionable accent choice in his defending statements make any of the good will of the actor’s strong performative abilities disappear.
Lady Gaga as Lee works in many ways as Arthur’s troubled muse and soars in the musical sequences portrayed which really showcases the singer-turned-actor’s abilities. Furthermore, so many of Lee’s looks and outfits throughout the film were striking, which coupled with the actresses’ sheer presence and persona made any mere scene enjoyable to watch. Yet, all of these aspects which reflect Lady Gaga as an undeniable force in this film are undermined due to her lack of screen time and that her character is only positioned in the story in relation to Fleck and never able to fully develop by herself.
Joker Folie a Deux is a wild card of a sequel, whilst in some respects it doubles down on its creativity and vision by offering an interesting take on the infamous Batman villain with musical panache and compelling courtroom antics deconstructing the legacy of the character and his fervent following. The film’s execution is its main flaw, where all the disparate parts of the film don’t work as well together as it thinks it does and among this conglomeration of different types and styles of film, there is a great film in here, it’s just unfortunate we weren’t able to watch it.
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