Joker 2 is either 'brilliant' or 'depressingly dull', say critics (original) (raw)

Joker 2 — or Joker: Folie à Deux to give it the delightfully pretentious full title — is either brilliant, or terrible, or a bit of both. The long-awaited sequel had its red carpet premiere at the Venice Film Festival and critics had their say afterwards. They're split right down the middle.

This time around, the Batman-adjacent story follows Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), incarcerated after murdering four people, forming a bond with fellow Arkham inmate Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) ahead of his televised trial. They meet as part of a prison singing program, hence Joker 2's musical elements.

The first movie made an enormous $1.08bn (£820m) at the global box office and was the highest-grossing R-rated film ever until Deadpool & Wolverine came along this year. Fans had high hopes for the sequel and, depending on their choice of critic, they might be thrilled or appalled at the early reactions.

Slideshow: See the best photos from Joker 2's Venice premiere below

Pete Hammond at Deadline was one of the critics who was most impressed by the film, which he described as "brilliant" as well as "audacious and head-spinning" in his review. He added: "With song, dance, comedy, darkness, animation, drama, violence and more, this is a musical — if it even is a musical — like no other. That’s entertainment, too."

The Independent's reviewer Geoffrey Macnab praised Folie à Deux as "ingenious and deeply unsettling", while Kyle Anderson of Nerdist wrote a more mixed, but still positive review, explaining that he enjoyed Folie à Deux more than its predecessor.

Over at The Wrap, critic William Bibbiani lauded Phoenix for adding complexity to his role. "Joaquin Phoenix, of course, is incredibly talented, and brings new insights to Arthur Fleck that Arthur himself didn’t seem to understand until now," he wrote. "Do we really love Arthur or do we just love how his story, itself a glorified TV melodrama about a sad person committing sad crimes for the sake of a sad rubbernecking audience, makes us feel about ourselves?"

The Telegraph's Robbie Collin says Gaga is "creepily magnetic" in her performance even if she is given little to do in the film. The critic said: "As a repeat performance – even a cunningly subversive one – Folie à Deux can’t quite match its predecessor for dizzying impact. But it matches it for horrible tinderbox tension: it’s a film you feel might burst into flames at any given moment."

Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga star in musical sequel Joker: Folie à Deux. (Warner Bros Pictures)

Over on the more negative side of town, The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw said the sequel "spirals out of tune" and criticised its focus on Arkham, writing that the movie "turns out to be oppressively, claustrophobically and repetitively becalmed in that oddly unreal Gotham-universe jail". Jo-Ann Titmarsh at the Evening Standard agreed, writing that "the film is ultimately dull and plodding, taking us nowhere, slowly".

Yahoo UK's own take on the film was also negative, with Roxy Simons saying the film is "just plain boring", adding: "Take away the musical numbers and you're left with a generic court drama that isn't anywhere near as dramatic as it likes to think it is."

David Ehrlich's response for IndieWire was one of the most brutal assessments of the film, calling it "an excruciatingly — perhaps even deliberately — boring sequel that does everything in its power not to amuse you".

The Hollywood Reporter's review was a more mixed one, with David Rooney praising Joker 2 for its audacious musical gambit and calling it a "big, muscular production" while conceding that it's "narratively a little thin and at times dull". Owen Gleiberman at Variety said the film had lost its predecessor's edge, saying that while it was "superficially outrageous", it emerged as "an overly cautious sequel".

Joaquin Phoenix returns to the role of Arthur Fleck for Joker: Folie à Deux. (Warner Bros Pictures)

This critical backdrop is fascinating in comparison to the first Joker film's rapturous response at Venice in 2019, where it won the festival's top prize: the Golden Lion. It's a reflection of the complex legacy of Phillips' film, which proved controversial for its gritty approach even as it scooped two Oscars and that monster box office haul.

Audiences will have the chance to make up their own minds on Folie à Deux very soon and, based on the wide variety of critical responses, it could very much go either way. That, though, is entertainment.

Joker: Folie à Deux is released in the UK on 4 October.