What’s next for the Joker in a world that doesn’t yet have Batman? Todd Phillips’ 2019 phenomenon joker still took place in Gotham City and involved the wealthy Wayne family, but the story was set years before son Bruce would first don the cowl, in a seemingly more realistic universe – with an ending where Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is all dressed up emerges with no place to go except Arkham State Hospital. The idea that this self-contained origin story would nevertheless inspire a big-budget sequel may have initially seemed like a betrayal of the film’s serious ethos. But a film about the fully formed Joker being unleashed is also compatible with the recurring image across several Phoenix films of the actor desperate for precarious freedom. The Joker is forever on the run – “chasing cars,” as the Heath Ledger version put it – and with such a splashy audience debut, no asylum could truly hold him. What Joker: Foil A Two assumes: Maybe it could?

Phillips and his co-writer Scott Silver return to Arthur with a surprising ’80s-style reset. Now, instead of being attacked, harassed and overlooked by the hostile city around him as he mentally shuts down, Arthur attacked, harassed, and overlooked by the hostile system that envelops him as he, yes, mentally shuts down . As he is abused by guards led by Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson) while awaiting his murder trial in Arkham’s maximum security wing, Arthur still longs for the love and understanding that has eluded him, despite the accumulation of many fans from outside.

It turns out he has one on the inside too: he meets Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) while walking through a lower security section of the facility, where she was committed for less murderous reasons. Lee – short for Harleen, which can also be shortened to Harley, in case you’re not aware of some major Batman/Joker lore – recognizes Arthur and sees him as a kindred spirit. In classic meta-sequel fashion, she reads like a fan of the first film; when she starts a sentence with “when I first saw Joker…” she’s referring to seeing Arthur’s clown-painted alter ego on TV, but it’s phrased in such a way that it sounds like she’s talking about her first viewing of a certain Best Picture nominee. (This Arthur has only been seen in a presumably tasteless TV movie, mentioned repeatedly but unseen.)

During their first conversation, the two troubled souls exchange whispered, hurt bars of “Get Happy,” a signature Judy Garland tune. Their de facto first date involves watching the Fred Astaire musical The bandwagon (Arkham’s film programmers have a surprising cinephile reputation!), although it is interrupted by a fire that Lee sets. Soon they’re done, images from the film projected onto them like heavenly light, and they perform song-and-dance numbers that can be at least partially performed in their heads.

Yes, the joker sequel is a kind of musical. It’s also a kind of courtroom drama, and that qualification doesn’t come from an unwillingness to put in the hours. In fact, viewers may feel like they’ve spent days or weeks in the gloomy courtroom where Arthur’s murder trial continues to rage. Several scenes even bring back multiple characters from the first film for a reduced re-litigation of the events, like a less funny version of the film. Seinfeld series finale. The “sort of” factor comes less from the courtroom than from the drama, which is in short supply throughout as much of the film depends on hand-waving story details that don’t make much sense. Perhaps this is a reference to Arthur’s delusions in the first film; there are several points at which hallucinations would be the clearest explanation for characters’ behavior and reactions to each other.

What keeps Joker: Foil A Two On the other hand, it’s harder to say whether it will be a full-fledged musical, as this is the one area where the film indulges in unabashed fantasy rather than just being a bit silly. Phillips never seems like a filmmaker with a particular affinity for the musical form, but he still dazzles The bandwagon all over the faces of Joker and Lee – and what’s more, it stages a number of enchanting minimalist duets between the seductively mismatched Phoenix and Gaga. A violent courtroom fantasy conjures up a particularly dreamy spell, perhaps in part because it interrupts another tedious trial scene. There’s also a parody of a variety show and an imaginary nightclub; these sequences take their inspiration further than any of the Scorsese karaoke from the first film.

At least, until Phillips inevitably curtails them. (The more drawn-out courtroom number is a welcome exception.) Phillips is strangely eager to bring Arthur back to reality and deliver the usual implicit lecture about musicals selling escapist nonsense, using poor Lady Gaga as his instrument. She steps into a role largely defined by the character’s voice – where her origins lie Batman: The Animated Series are thanks in large part to the vocalizations of actress Arleen Sorkin – Gaga, eschewing her art-diva reputation, plays a quieter Harley Quinn than her flashier predecessors. Even her powerful singing voice is often muted, giving her musical performances a vibrant beauty, as if she is excitedly gathering the courage to fully ignite. In the real world, she can channel her obsession with Arthur into custom-made proto-Harley costumes, beaming from the sidelines at her lover-slash-hero, who is encouraged by her love to stick it out in court ( much to the dismay of his colleagues). lawyer, ungratefully played by Catherine Keener).

But that’s exactly the problem: Joker: Foil A Two works overtime to keep Arthur and Lee apart, while keeping the only truly exciting parts of the film from actually happening in full. It does have its reasons for this construction – mostly having to do with the ultimate thinness of Lee’s character, entirely in keeping with the vague image of women as cunning, opportunistic manipulators that pervades other Todd Phillips films. (This version of Harley Quinn is without a doubt the most interesting woman in all of his films, and he inherited her.)

Don’t worry, though; It’s not just Harley Quinn fans who will be annoyed and possibly offended by the filmmaker’s acid vagaries. The extent to which Phillips subverts fans’ expectations would be admirable Joker: Foil A Two wasn’t exactly a slog either – and if every creative decision didn’t feel strangely affectionate, as if he were coolly looking at his own reference points with seething disdain even as he examined them through the skilled lens of cinematographer Lawrence Sher. As before, there’s a lot of empty pastiche: the film opens with a Looney Tunes-esque cartoon that doesn’t bother to imitate the art or gag style of a true Warner Bros. classic. While the Wayne family forged half-hearted comic connections in the first film, Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) plays a pointless role here. The specific era of pre-rock standards evoked by many of the song choices never fully pays off. Joaquin Phoenix, who won a goddamn Oscar for this role last time, spends an inordinate amount of time throwing his head back as he takes long drags on a cigarette. Does Phillips enjoy this for even one minute? Is he angry at the people who do? Joker: Foil A Two divides it neatly across different target group segments and ensures that virtually no one leaves satisfied. Are almost a perverse joke worthy of the subject matter – or it would be, if this Joker actually made more jokes. Instead, the desire to alienate seems tailored both to Phillips’s idea of ​​the character and possibly to the filmmaker’s own feelings of persecution after the comedy: he has no choice but to parlay his greatest ever success into a new tragic cut.

Director: Todd Phillips
Writer: Scott Silver, Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz
Release date: October 4, 2024