spanky said:

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The more hate I hear about this movie, the more likely I will love it.

I find the talk about it being outside the Batman/Joker universe kind of odd...people complaining about it not being their Joker, etc., while they are ok with cartoon Harley in the Batman comic universe.

To be honest, I find the depiction of a crazy mfer who could actually represent what a real life villain would resemble psychologically to be more interesting than the other comic fodder we get these days. I also enjoy Loki and WandaVision along the same lines I guess.

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First clip from ‘JOKER 2’

In theaters on October 4. pic.twitter.com/MT7hcmVBvJ

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 3, 2024

#JokerFolieÀDeux is perhaps *too* ambitious for its own good, but it crafts a more inspired identity for its gritty world & mind of Arthur Fleck.
The result is an insane, colourfully dark & unpredictable genre blend that at last captures the truism & essence of the Joker. pic.twitter.com/OzJkSvkks5

— Ren Geekness (@RenGeekness) September 4, 2024

#JokerFolieADeux defies all expectations. The jukebox musical features raw, engaging performances from Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix. I do feel it will divide audiences, but at its core, it's an intriguing look at the duality of Arthur Fleck and the Joker. pic.twitter.com/sLukv2Hyum

— John Nguyen (@JohnSpartan300) September 4, 2024

Joker: Folie à Deux - A frustrating disappointment. Most of this sequel is a response to the criticisms of the first movie, showing that Arthur is just a mirror for darkness of society. The musical scenes are exquisite, but it doesn't have anything to say this time. No new ideas. pic.twitter.com/uNuvKOTFYX

— Alex B. (@firstshowing) September 4, 2024

JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX is far more mature and introspective than anticipated, telling a story about identity and legacy. Enjoyed Joaquin Phoenix & Lady Gaga's reserved performances. Beautiful visuals, sets, score and musical numbers, although they do wear after a certain point pic.twitter.com/9YNOZI5spC

— Ema Sasic @ Venice (@ema_sasic) September 4, 2024

Joker: Folie à Deux feels like it’s bad on purpose. A fascinatingly lifeless troll of a movie designed to anger fans and bore everyone else. Its complete waste of Lady Gaga is worse than any of Joker’s crimes.

my review: https://t.co/o8wyGuRkJj pic.twitter.com/xaduBjgzau

— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) September 4, 2024

Joker: Folie à Deux is a bold, daring and mesmerizing masterpiece. Joaquin Phoenix continues to amaze as Arthur Fleck while Lady Gaga delivers the best performance of her career thus far as Harley Quinn. Todd Phillips has truly upped the ante in almost every way with this sequel… pic.twitter.com/jRnsFhydGU

— Scott Menzel (@ScottDMenzel) September 4, 2024

After watching #JokerFolieADeux, I needed some time to process. It wasn't what I expected, but in the best way possible. Todd Phillips and Scott Silver took a bold creative leap. The film feels like an indie / arthouse film in a lot of ways that's. Joker 2 is partcially a mix of… pic.twitter.com/yzlLUPN9Sp

— Joseph Deckelmeier (@joedeckelmeier) September 4, 2024

Despite the best efforts of Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, and an opening hour set in Arkham Asylum, Joker: Folie à Deux wastes its potential as a movie musical, a courtroom drama, and a sequel that has anything meaningful to say about or add to the first Joker.

Our review:… pic.twitter.com/CnNPtNQkjX

— IGN (@IGN) September 4, 2024

You’d think being liberated from the comics meant “Joker: Folie à Deux” could blaze its own path, but the sequel—less musical, more rote courtroom drama—is slavishly tethered to the first film, and doesn’t pursue its many ideas. Not great! #Venezia81 https://t.co/ErBL2lC98f

— Siddhant Adlakha (@SiddhantAdlakha) September 4, 2024

#Joker2 Review: "For a movie running two-and-a-quarter hours, it feels narratively a little thin and at times dull....This sequel is built on more of a conceit than a solid story foundation" https://t.co/EGOw8HM8BM pic.twitter.com/0wGMVNcFXp

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 4, 2024

JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX is a boring and pointless movie that feels designed to make everyone mad, perhaps especially the die hard fans of the first one. It’s a real Joker in that way https://t.co/YeLNYy2YIf

— Richard Lawson (@rilaws) September 4, 2024

THR's review of #JokerFolieADeux : "Gaga is a compelling live-wire presence," Phoenix gives "another riveting performance, unsettling when Arthur roars with laughter at inopportune times and poignant when he looks inward to question his identity" https://t.co/NInkiswP9z

— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) September 4, 2024

REVIEW: The premise of #JokerFolieADeux is an audacious concept. It’s one that demands an audacious execution. And for the most part, that doesn’t happen in the film.

Read the full piece here: https://t.co/qrBcKbSOXr pic.twitter.com/OffnlNYVjl

— Variety (@Variety) September 4, 2024

Quote:

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Kudos to Todd Phillips for forcing US audiences to be confronted with the intriguing subtitle for his highly anticipated sequel, Joker: Folie Deux, a psychiatric term from 19th century French psychiatrist Charles Lasegue, which means 'madness of two.' But the shared delirium implied of the toxic romance at the heart of the narrative really applies to anyone who's impressed by this interminably vacuous sequel to Phillip's 2019 Joker, which surprisingly won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and took home a Best Actor Academy Award for Joaquin Phoenix. The director and returning star are joined, in what feels like stunt casting after witnessing the end product, multihyphenate Lady Gaga, whose performance suggests her breakout role in the third remake of A Star is Born (2018) is now a star tarnished. A bloated, kitschy, ersatz musical, which stagnates mercilessly in one of the most inept courtroom sequences conceived, what's perhaps most disappointing is a bungled attempt at an essentially interesting concept. Returning co-scribe Scott Silver's iffy bits of dialogue aren't able to be masked by the strength of the cast this time around, especially with a returning lead who, when he isn't caterwauling through endless musical numbers, appears to have slipped into eternal somnolence.

Two years after Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) murdered five people (one on national television), his lawyer (Catherine Keener) has found a way to find him mentally competent to stand trial. The defense? Mr. Fleck is suffering from, in the period and language of the film, from multiple personality disorder. It wasn't Arthur, but his alter ego Joker, a self defense mechanism, responsible for unleashing violence. Just prior to the trial, Arthur is allowed to attend music classes in the minimum security ward of the psychiatric institution where he's held, courtesy of a self-motivated guard (Brenden Gleeson) who loves himself some classic tunes. There he meets Harleen "Lee" Quinzel (Lady Gaga), an inmate who seems to be Fleck's number one fan. With the briefest of flirtations, they fall in love, a literal inferno developing as they sing and dance their way into each other's shared delusion. But now, Arthur has a reason to live, and fires his lawyer so he may defend himself mid-way through his trial, donning his Joker persona at the not-so-subtle bidding of Lee. Though he ignores the red flags suggesting she has ulterior motives, Arthur finds he's having trouble discerning whether or not he's two different people or simply one broken, easily corruptible whole.

It would appear Joker: Folie Deux might have been overwhelmed by the expectations established by its predecessor, opening as it does with a retro Warner Bros. cartoon treatment of Joker being sabotaged by his own insidious shadow. In fact, the sequel only serves to diminish the questionable mystique conjured by the novelty of an R-rated super villain's origin story which had allegorical ties to reality in ways most comic book related films do not. But if Phillips was trying to please anyone, it was perhaps co-star Lady Gaga, who purportedly insisted on the cast and crew referring to her by character name only (according to DP Lawrence Sher). Making this tidbit even more obnoxious is the inert end product of such a pointless demand. What we get is the equivalent of seeing concert footage of Gaga since there's really no valid attempts at characterizing who Harley Quinn is supposed to be. Initially, the wide-eyed psychotic stare in her first handful of scenes suggest something promising, like she's some gonzo femme fatale desiring to use Fleck for own devious means. We learn only that she's a consummate liar who lives with her wealthy parents on the Upper West side and is basically using her privilege to assert herself in the media spotlight…which doesn't sound too far removed from the actor's own origins.

The musical cues, of which there are many, transport us into the fantasy realm, where nothing much happens for the developing chemistry between the leads. A Gotham variety show finds Gaga outshining Phoenix in a way that recalls The Sonny and Cher Show, where audiences could enjoy the talents of Cher but also have to contend with the singing of Sonny Bono. But more often than not, it seems as if Gaga is trying too hard and at the wrong character element. We already know she's a talented singer. Wouldn't it have been more interesting to see her outside of this fantasy as a vocal wannabe? Phoenix often feels overwhelmed in their shared sequences, the only out-of-pocket risks occurring during the trial when, dressed as Joker, he attempts to question witnesses using varying degrees of Southern and British accents. Bill Smitrovich futilely commands as a judge who's all bark and no bite (and doesn't seem to mind when an accused murderer doesn't freely approach the witness stand without asking).

The talents of the supporting cast are squandered, with Brenden Gleeson growing tiresome as a musical obsessed abusive cop who takes pleasure in degrading his wards. In what feels like a desperate bid for the film to flex some violent menace, a late staged beat down of Arthur Fleck leads to the murder of a gay prison youth championing his cause and feels rather pointless. The same can be said for erroneous DC comics connective tissue courtesy of Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) playing the smug prosecuting attorney, who has about as much personality as a spindly coat rack.

Catherine Keener as a sympathetic lawyer, and Zazie Beetz, reprising her kindly neighbor character from the first film for one scene, appear to be on hand to establish some sense of legitimacy but are usurped by the repetitive ebb and flow of the apathetically constructed narrative. Chaos seems to always be leering around the corner, but when something truly explosive happens we're already wishing the blast would knock us into the end credits. In their final interaction, Arthur pleads with Lee to stop he doesn't want to go on singing, which is where the desires of character and audience finally intersect. An unsurprising climax is only one more instance revealing the lack of attention paid to details. The heavily utilized "What the World Needs Now" track insists love is the only thing there's just too little of, but there's much more lacking in Joker: Folie Deux.

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TCTTS said:

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It’s so funny to me that Harley Quinn’s canonical real name is Harleen Quinzel. That’s like doing an origin story about Wonderina Womansky

— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) September 4, 2024

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#Joker2 debuts to 59% on Rotten Tomatoes — based on 41 reviews 🟢 pic.twitter.com/RMsDUbUvmN

— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) September 4, 2024

El Gallo Blanco said:

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TCTTS said:

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A reminder that this movie...

- Is a sequel to 2019's Joker, which made $1.07B worldwide.

- Isn't part of the old DCEU.

- Isn't part of the new DCU.

- Isn't part of Matt Reeves'/Robert Pattinson's The Batman Saga.

- Is set in its own, contained universe, which now falls under the "DC Elseworlds" label.

- Is DC's only 2024 movie, releasing between "eras," before the DCU kicks off in 2025 with James Gunn's Superman.

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I still maintain that Joker was the best and most gritty and realistic hero/villain origin story I have ever seen. I really hope Lady Gaga can somehow pull her weight...slightly worried about her trying to "over act", but we will see. JP's performance in Joker was nothing short of amazing. Dude's one of the greatest actors to ever live in my book.

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Unfortunately, things have not improved. If anything, they've gotten worse. It seems @theFlash 2.0 might be incoming here for @wbpictures and @jokermovie. https://t.co/clZbWXjbem pic.twitter.com/zPihUx6IlK

— EmpireCity Box Office (@EmpireCityBO) September 11, 2024

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Well that was a depressing movie.

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