© Warner Bros.
Five years ago, Todd Phillips created a sensation in theaters. In the fall of 2019, Joker was acclaimed by critics and audiences around the world. The feature film won multiple awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Oscar for Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix, more impressive than ever. In total, Joker has grossed over a billion dollars at the global box office. Contrary to the feature films from superhero universes, Joker went off the beaten track and offered us an unexpected dive into the transformation of Arthur Fleck into the Joker, a true descent into hell.
The undeniable success of Joker pushed Warner Bros. to (very) quickly announce a sequel to Todd Phillips' feature film. So here we are, five years later, with Joker: Folie à Deux finally released in theaters. The least we can say is that many viewers experienced their screening as a cold shower. On AlloCiné, Joker: Folie à Deux gets an average score of 2.5 out of 5. While the first opus had collected $96 million at the American box office for its launch, its sequel pales in comparison with only $37 million in the United States for its debut. To give you an idea, it's worse than The Marvels and Morbius, two films of the same ilk that were particularly flops last year.
But why does everyone hate Joker 2 ? What happened to turn Todd Phillips from a straightforward success into a monumental flop ? Even though Joker : Folie à Deux was highly anticipated by fans, and by us. Little analysis…
Joker 2: he dances, he sings, he stands still
Faced with the very angry reviews of Joker: Folie à Deux, I still wanted to believe in it. I really wanted to support Todd Phillips' new film, against all odds. But after leaving my screening of this highly anticipated sequel, it's hard for me to turn a blind eye. Without being the disaster that some are loudly claiming, Joker 2 is disappointing. Like a damp squib.
The real problem for the detractors of this new feature film is its genre. The director made a controversial decision: to make the sequel to Joker a musical. But not to sell it as such… That’s enough to surprise more than one viewer! There are those who love musicals, and those who hate them. Although it is an extremely exciting and diverse genre. Thus, in Joker: Folie à Deux, Arthur Fleck and his sweetheart Lee Quinn sing along on multiple occasions. While these musical interludes are sensible and rather well-delivered, it is understandable to be surprised or even unexcited by Todd Phillips' idea. But while it can be unsettling, making it into a musical is relatively clever. The film cleverly uses the genre to its advantage with numerous nods to genre staples.
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Finally, the fact that Joker: Folie à Deuxis a musical is refreshing, to a certain extent. Our disappointment lies in the script. While the staging, direction and acting are solid on their feet, we can't help but frown. But where does Todd Phillips want to go? ? We navigate between Arthur Fleck and Joker in a huge redundant fog. The director seems to be marking time and the rather slow pace of the film doesn't help. After 2 hours and 19 minutes, we are a little happy to see the lights come back on. Lee Quinn's character is a huge disappointment as she is so in the background in this feature film (except for a few sweet musical breaks). Underused, Lady Gaga is only a foil for the main character. It's all the more frustrating because we're given to understand that she might be a character reallyinteresting. For his part, Joaquin Phoenix is still as fascinating as Arthur Fleck/Joker, and is more touching and human than ever.
Finally, the message of Joker: Folie à Deux is very interesting. Indeed, as spectators, we are no better than the inhabitants of Gotham, forgetting the tortured human behind the murderous clown makeup. Like the Joker fanatics in the film, we did not want to see Arthur Fleck's decline and vulnerability. Nevertheless, Jokerdidn't need a sequel. We get the feeling that Todd Phillips didn't like the reception of Joker in 2019 and wanted to backtrack. While it's disappointing, we can still salute him. By wanting to come back with a sequel in his own style, the director is giving the finger to fans of Joker for the wrong reasons.
Nevertheless, Joker 2 remains a disappointment in its plot that goes round in circles. But not everything is to be thrown away and it's not the disaster that many are chanting on the web. The feature film benefits from many bright and remarkable ideas as well as remarkably talented actors. Too bad the success of the first film pushed Warner Bros. and Todd Phillips to re-enlist to offer us a truly useless opus.
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