Rent Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

Darkly Funny Sequel with Great Old-School Songs in Fantasy Sequences - Joker: Folie à Deux review by PV

This got bad reviews. I preferred it to the first JOKER movie - Joaquin Phoenix is brilliant again.

I actually actively dislike musicals. I am no fan of the perpetually over-rated Lady Gaga either (AKA Stefani Germanotta from a privileged upper-middle-class background).

However, this is all surreal with set pieces reflecting the fantasies, delusions and mental state of the characters. I liked that AND the class songs (most songs in new musicals are R&B and not for me!) This is old school and sticks to the hits, which is great!

Nice to hear songs like THE JOKER and GONNA BUILD A MOUNTAIN, music, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. Also FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE not written by Stevie Wonder, but by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden for Motown Records' Stein & Van Stock publishing company, first recorded in 1965.

It sags a tad at times, the grim prison scenes and the talky courtroom ones, and I predicted the end.

I have forgotten the first film almost completely - it is referenced a lot here so I should maybe have watched it again before this.

But I liked it, the darkness, the music, the oddity of it,. So 4 stars

Awful - Joker: Folie à Deux review by Sal

I wasn't expecting a musical. I think this was more the Lady Gaga show. Joaquin can't sing either. Just a terribly awful movie. The fear they were going to burst into song any minute which they did. I don't dislike musicals but it was inappropriate for this film as the Joker is a great character and Joaquin played him well in the first film. Just felt this was all about Lady Gaga.

Every bit as bad as they say it is - Joker: Folie à Deux review by JD

Obviously the performances were great, and Lady Gaga was in her element. While ive no time for her, she is clearly a talented entertainer.

But the film. What is it?

Taken as a batman film - it takes the most famous villain of them all and turns him into a sad, pathetic in-cel. HQ being his manipulator and emotional superior could of been an interesting twist on cannon, but its simply used to force the point the Joker is a complete nobody.

But what really destroys this as a Batman universe film is the recent Penguin series. This is just complete rubbish in comparison, both as entertainment and how it builds (or doesnt in this case) the villain.

If we take the film out of the Batman universe, then its just pure dull. Its a musical shawshank redemption (there are better examples but the film isnt worth thinking of it) but instead of being fantastic, it inverses that and becomes fantastically rubbish.

Its one of those films I honestly felt id wasted 2 hours of my life. I should of listened to the honest reviews.