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joker: Folie à Deuxthe sequel to the 2019 Joaquin Phoenix film, has scored an unwanted Rotten Tomatoes score as more and more critics release their reviews of the film.

Initial reactions to its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September were mixed, with some calling it ‘ingenious’ or ‘seductive’ and others calling it ‘boring’ and ‘laborious’.

Among the critics who praised the film was The independent‘s Geoffrey Macnab, who gave a four-star rating, writing: “The darkness at the film’s core is underlined by the very brutal ending, which rejects comic book conventions in favor of psychological depth.

“Phoenix’s performance also remains powerful and compelling. The genius of it is that we have no choice but to care for Arthur, despite his neediness and derangement.’

The film, which is a musical, also stars Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, the Joker’s sidekick and love interest, earning a modest early Rotten Tomatoes score of 61 percent, as reported by Forbesgiving it the same score as the widely derided version Black Adam.

That has now dropped to just 39 percent as the majority of critics shine a spotlight on the story, songs and much-discussed ending.

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The consensus review on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing reads: “Joaquin Phoenix’s eponymous Joker takes the stand in a sequel that dances around while the story remains stagnant, though Lady Gaga’s wildcard energy Folie á Deux a little verve.”

New York Times critic Manohia Dargis writes: “The big non-news about Folie à Deux is that it’s a half-baked, half-hearted musical, complete with one star who can sing, Lady Gaga as Lee Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn, and another (Phoenix) who can’t or won’t.

Audrey Fox for Looper said: “Even fans of joker It’s unlikely they’ll find much to fix this chaotic, utterly stupid mess.”

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Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun Times said in his review: “There’s always a joker, there’s always a clown – but when he doesn’t morph into something bigger, bolder and more terrible, it starts to feel like we’ve seen this show before, just without the musical numbers.”

Kevin Maher for The times called the film “messy, lifeless, derivative and exactly what you’d expect from a film that simply doesn’t want or need to exist”.

Danny Leigh saw more favorable reviews The Financial Times call it less “unpleasant than its predecessor”, while Ireland’s RTE said: “The film is effortlessly claustrophobic, dreamily undramatic and all the better for it.”

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The film will be the last for Phoenix’s Joker. After the premiere, a journalist asked Phoenix about his weight loss for the film, which he said was “more complicated” than the 2019 original.

For the first Joker, Phoenix lost 52 pounds to achieve the main character’s lean appearance and achieved this by eating a diet consisting mainly of steamed vegetables and lettuce.

Phoenix was hesitant to reveal specific details about his diet this time, telling reporters, “I’m not going to go into the details of the diet.”

However, he did say that it “felt a little more complicated” to lose weight for the sequel “because there were so many dance rehearsals that we did, which I didn’t have last time.”