Disappointing
Summary
The ponderous pacing and lack of cohesion or payoff in the story makes me wonder why they even bothered making this sequel.
Plot: The sequel to 2019’s Joker sees Arthur Fleck on trial for his murders from the previous film, while Lee Quinzell (Lady Gaga) encourages him to embrace his Joker persona.
Review: I enjoyed the Joker movie. I did not love it. I found it an interesting character study, with elements of The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver in it. I thought Joaquin Phoenix gave a powerhouse performance, and the last half-hour was the best part of the movie. It was enjoyable and memorable; I just didn’t see the need for a sequel.
However, this is Hollywood today, where filmmakers are determined to give you what you didn’t ask for. Todd Phillips and the other masterminds behind the first one decided to give us a quasi-musical movie and included the Harley Quinn and Harvey Dent characters this time. Okay.
What works in this movie? Well, Joaquin Phoenix is still marvellous. He cackles, he slouches, he easily ping-pongs between the Arthur Fleck and Joker personas with breathless ease. He convinces you that both personalities could exist in the same body. There’s an animated part at the beginning that is neat. The musical numbers aren’t bad. Lady Gaga tries her best, though she doesn’t have enough to work with; this was a chance to have a charismatic, psychotic sidekick to Fleck’s sad sack persona, and they didn’t go for it, which is a miss. Leigh Gill is terrific in his return as Gary Puddles, in the best scene in the movie.
That’s what went right. Now, let’s get into what went wrong.
First, the story is too long. You don’t need 140 minutes to tell this story. Not if most of it will be a courtroom drama where the result is apparent before the trial even begins. They delve a lot into Joker’s life in jail, and it’s unnecessary. I’m sure they could have saved a good half-hour from the movie. We know the Arthur Fleck character; we don’t need the back-and-forth if he’s Arthur Fleck or the Joker. We want the Joker. That’s why we went to see this movie.
Then there’s the story. This movie is a punishment for the Joker character. He gets beaten up in prison, everyone is pissed at him for the murders from the previous film, and it’s just one thing after another. After a nasty scene that I won’t get into here, I was sure the Joker would get his revenge, but nope. That’s the ultimate problem with this movie. No payoff. The last twenty minutes are laughably bad. I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s terrible. I left the theatre confused; what was the aim of this movie? I asked myself.
The best I can figure is, the filmmakers didn’t want to lean into the character. You’re making a Joker movie. The Joker is a bad guy. If you want to do this, you have to embrace what you’re doing. Much like fare like Breaking Bad and Dexter, the filmmakers create a grey or troubled central character and decide to punish them at the end. Because it all becomes a morality play for them, and in this sort of movie, morality needs to go out the window and you need to embrace the chaos. If you’re not willing to do that, why are you making the movie?
I don’t recommend seeing this movie. Especially if you loved the first film. You’ll hate it. It’s best to just remember the first movie for the unique experience it was and carry on.