Film Review: Joker: Folie à Deux – Twice the chaos and madness, but half the impact
'Joker: Folie à Deux' sees Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in fine form but falters in depth
In 'Joker: Folie à Deux', one of the most striking moments occurs when Gotham City’s Arkham Asylum is engulfed in flames. Amid the chaos, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), awaiting trial for five murders, and his new lover Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga) waltz together, dreaming of a world where they can be free. Their dance is imperfect, and their song slightly off-key, yet there’s something absurdly captivating about their volatile union. It’s gloriously desperate and bleak.
This time, the film gives us a glimpse of the softer, more sentimental side of the anarchic clown-for-hire—a disturbed murderer who has ignited an avalanche of copycat crimes and an anti-establishment riot on the streets. For a moment, you might wonder if you’ve accidentally bought tickets to a dark Bollywood musical, where a pathos-laden verse during a funeral feels oddly appropriate, rather than to a film known for exploring dark, complex themes like system failures creating deranged criminals, lack of privilege, child abuse, and gratuitous violence.
It takes more than a moment to adjust to this abrupt shift in gears.
Arthur Fleck: The vulnerable antihero?
Set two years after the first film, in which Arthur Fleck, in full clown makeup, shot a talk show host (Robert De Niro) live on television and is incarcerated, the sequel chronicles his circus-like trial, which is being streamed live on television. Arthur, facing a potential death penalty, finds himself at the center of a salacious, voyeuristic reality-TV spectacle. To add to the confusion, he seems to have found love while holed up in a Celebrity Big Brother-like asylum. It’s the dynamic between the power-hungry Harley Quinn and the almost diffident, broken Arthur Fleck that had my heart.
Director Todd Phillips skillfully lets a trained singer like Lady Gaga hold the strings to this relationship. She goads and seduces him to embrace the villainous, dark Joker within him and skip his medicines, while Arthur Fleck is all about courting love and discovering her. The Batman supervillain isn’t the alpha in this chapter. The reversal of that established gender code, where the woman is the one strumming him along, is a joy to watch. Both Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix are diabolical together. But she seems to be the truly unhinged one, despite her claim that she’s in the asylum for burning down her father’s home—a crime that’s far less severe than Arthur’s murderous spree.
But what’s disappointing is that the makers don’t truly commit to the idea of blending a kooky concept like a musical with a cackling criminal. At first, there’s the novelty of seeing a man dancing on the brink of insanity fall in love in a mental asylum, but just like most relationships, the newness wears off quickly, leaving the viewer wanting more. That’s not to say Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix aren’t arresting in their roles, but this bloated sequel does not have the same heft as its award-winning original. Here too, you see the decay and corruption in the judicial and prison systems, but it doesn’t hit as hard as the first chapter.
The second chapter, with twice the madness, might be twice as outlandish, but there’s no denying that Arthur Fleck joyfully prancing to Frank Sinatra’s 'That’s Life' remains one of the most haunting endings for a Hollywood film. How do you top that kind of euphoric on-screen experience of a climax? It’s a tall ask, and director Todd Phillips struggles to hit that high note. Which is a shame.
Very often, you may not fall into step with Joker and Harley’s fragile and fraught bond, but you’ll still watch the trainwreck of their relationship with academic interest.
The trial of the joker: Real or reality TV?
Another interesting segment is the court scenes where Arthur Fleck/Joker is on trial. The vicarious fun that everyone seems to be having is reflective of the times we live in. Just like the spectacle of watching Amber Heard squirm as she faced Johnny Depp’s lawyers, there’s some wicked joy to be had in Joker’s quest for justice.
But unlike the gripping intensity of the first 'Joker', where every moment felt like it teetered on the edge of chaos, this sequel feels more like a carefully-curated spectacle. It leans heavily into the absurdity of reality TV culture, blurring the line between tragedy and farce. What made the original film so impactful was its ability to tap into societal anxieties and mental illness with a brutal and painful kind of honesty.
'Folie à Deux' occasionally skims through those grim themes but ultimately chooses style/songs over substance. The result is a visually striking but emotionally diluted film that hums and haws and even dances between genres without fully committing to any of them.
It’s a wild, chaotic ride, but it’s missing the haunting, bone-deep resonance of its predecessor.