"Joker: Folie à Deux" just had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival on September 4, and reviews are now pouring in for the highly-anticipated DC sequel.
Whether you enjoyed it or not, Todd Phillips' 2019 DC adaptation was a big hit. Until "Deadpool & Wolverine" overtook it this summer, it was still the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever.
That success set the stage for the upcoming sequel starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga to potentially be one of the biggest movies of the year. Alas, it looks like the musical follow-up is going to be a very divisive watch, judging by the first reactions to "Joker 2".
At the time of writing, the movie has a 60% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, from a total of 43 reviews. Admittedly, that isn't too much lower than the first feature, which has a 69% critics' score on the same platform, but if you read through the negative reviews for "Joker: Folie à Deux", you'll see some truly scathing takes. Here's what critics are saying.
What the critics have said about 'Joker 2'
It seems like a lot of top critics struggled to find something to like about "Joker 2", judging by what's out there right now.
Little White Lies writer Hannah Strong proclaimed the movie a 'shocking amateur musical effort' and a 'grimdark karaoke session', adding: "this is a film of half-measures, lacking ambition in a way that is at least mildly more entertaining than its predecessor, but that’s down to the pleasures of songs written half a century ago rather than any talent Phillips has to offer as a filmmaker. Send in the clowns indeed."
Similarly, Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson branded the sequel a 'cramped psychodrama', writing: "Those hoping that a "Joker" sequel would be about the newly minted villain wreaking havoc across his city will be mightily disappointed by Folie à Deux. Phillips has banished us to essentially two places: the asylum and the courthouse. Very little happens beyond those walls, reducing the film to cramped psychodrama. It’s startlingly dull, a pointless procedural that seems to disdain its audience."
indieWire critic described "Joker 2 as 'boring, flat and such a criminal waste of Lady Gaga', later adding: "Folie à Deux" simple tap dances in place for the majority of its listless runtime, stringing together a series of underwhelming musical numbers that are either too on the nose to communicate anything that Arthur couldn't express without them [...] or too vaguely related to its characters to express anything at all".
And finally, journalist Nicholas Barber labelled the movie 'disappointing' and 'not much fun' in his 2-star BBC Culture review, writing: "In Joker: Folie à Deux, Phillips isn't taking any chances. He has devoted his sequel to the message that Fleck is a wimpy, self-centred stooge who lets down everyone around him. He's a nobody. Depending on how you look at it, this demythologising exercise is either daring or it's irritatingly smug, but it's definitely not much fun. Phillips seems to be saying that if you fell for Fleck's Messianic self-image the last time around, then the joke's on you."
Did anyone like 'Joker 2'?
Disappointed to read some of these takes? Fret not, "Joker: Folie à Deux" still has some fans.
Empire critic John Nugent gave the movie a 4-star review, praising "Joker 2" for offering 'a genuinely original narrative', concluding: "As sweet and beguiling a musical romance as it's possible to have between two murderous psychopaths. Its kooky approach won't suit all stripes of comic-book fan, but it finds a strange, tragic hopefulness all of its own".
Time Outjournalist John Bleasdale offered the same 4/5 rating and called it 'a bold and often brilliant sequel', adding: "Joker 2" feels both like a continuance and a reaction to its own success, with Harleen standing for the kind of superfan who is willing to stan Joker at all costs...There are no real action set pieces, unless we count the music numbers, no car chases, no fight scenes. We’re left with the tragedy of a broken man in a world only interested in sensationalism. It’s a big swing for all involved, but all the better for it."
If you're desperate to see which side of the "Joker 2" debate you fall on, you can watch the movie when it hits theaters on October 4, 2024. If anything, these polarized takes have me more intrigued to see it than I already was.
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