I knew there would be trouble when I saw Brendan Gleeson, Asylum screw. Uh oh. You see, here’s the thing: Brendan Gleeson is a star, i.e. somebody who takes big roles, not small ones. So, if Brendan Gleeson is playing a prison guard, then most of the movie is going to take place in prison. Emaciated Joaquin Phoenix in prison. A lot. Joker, in prison, all film long.
Wow. What fun.
I’m sorry; somebody has to describe to me at this point what Batman has to do with any of this. I saw the original Joker. That isn’t a supervillain; that’s just a frustrated mamma’s boy. He has no grand plan for taking over Gotham City or destroying the world. And he’d prove about as much match for Batman as the citizens of Tokyo facing Godzilla in individual hand-to-hand combat.
Oh, Batman isn’t part of this. That makes sense, but … in that case. what makes Joker such a fascinating study, huh? The fact that he dresses as a clown before committing crimes? I suppose that’s novel, but hardly innovative.
You see what I’m getting at here, yes? It’s not just that the avatar of “Joker” is far more entertaining than everyday sociopath Arthur Fleck; it’s that there’s so much Arthur Fleck-ing going on in Joker: Folie à Deux that I’ve lost any taste I had for the original film. Arthur Fleck in prison/Arthur Fleck on trial is about as fun as talking politics at Thanksgiving dinner.
Somewhere in writer/director Todd Phillips’ head, he knew this. So he made a musical.
Seriously.
Welcome to Les Jokerables, starring Joaquin Phoenix, a fine actor, yet a performer never noted for his signing voice, reprising his role as Joker/Arthur Fleck, and signing a bunch. The film invited Lady Gaga to invent the role perfected by Margot Robbie. To be fair, Lady Gaga does sing better than Margot Robbie. Does she sing well enough to make us ok with musical Joker? How about the soundtrack? Are the “classics”: “For Once in My Life”, “If My Friends Could See Me Now”, “Bewitched”, “When You’re Smiling”, “To Love Somebody”, etc. classic enough to handle a Joaquin Phoenix cover – cuz he sings all of them and more.
The last time I can remember a non-singer covering “(They Long to Be) Close to You” was Rick Moranis in Parenthood in 1989. The song was considered outdated at the time and handled for comic effect. And that’s where we are now.
As for plot, well, Arthur Fleck has been a good little prisoner, so he has been invited to prison co-ed glee club -cuz they have that- where meets Lee Quinzel (Gaga) a woman who is gaga for Joker. I fail to see the draw, myself, but, hey, some women like sad boys. Of course, when their second meeting results in a fire and escape attempt, one might think to keep these two away from one another, but that’s only if you believe in, I dunno, reality.
The film begins with a confusing “Me and My Shadow” cartoon in which we see that Arthur isn’t quite as responsible for his actions as his murderous and alternatively dominant alter-ego, The Joker. That’s … great. Why is this cartoon here? A lot of effort has been collected by the
production team to introduce something neither entertaining, nor insightful. Alas, a tone has been set. After that, Joker 2 is mostly about Fleck’s time in prison peppered every so often with a somber cover song, all leading to the big trial where Arthur Fleck/Joker is finally held accountable for his murders while a throng of Joker fans cheer him on.
It does strike me how relevant this trial is; it is very much like the Donald Trump trial from earlier this year: an asshole icon sleepwalks his way through court. His side offers almost nothing in the way of legitimate defense -because there is nothing to offer- and his moronic, lawless sycophants cheer him on like he doesn’t deserve justice. And the important part, of course, is claiming victory regardless of genuine outcome. Does relevancy matter? Not in this case, because Todd Phillips can’t seem to acknowledge his hero, like Trump, is a villain. You don’t get a pass for murdering six people, Arthur, even if “The Joker” did it.
I don’t really like the Joker character. I didn’t like him in the first film. I didn’t like him played by Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, or Jared Leto – I did like Heath Ledger as Joker— and I see Joaquin Phoenix gave the fictional villain depth, if not a soul. I cannot, however, be convinced for the amount of time it takes to write this sentence that the Joaquin Phoenix Joker is a supervillain. To me, this is a long, tired, filler movie about an unstable man in prison. None of the songs did anything for me and Lady Gaga’s appearances seem to be on the order of “What kind of Asylum do you got goin’ on, there, Gotham?!”
Were there good performances? Yes. Does that matter? No. Hillbilly Elegy had some great performances and that movie stunk up all of Appalachia. Did Joaquin Phoenix singing hurt the film? No. Although it could have were the film better. Joker: Folie à Deux -an awfully pretentious title for an awfully weak film- is a long waste of time that serves no purpose other than introducing Harley Quinn to the DC show. As her appearances in the film seem contrived and indulgent, I see no reason to accept this story as canon.
There was once a tired felon called Arthur
Who killed five souls after his own marther
Got sent to the joint
While has fans did anoint
And one woman took their relationship farther
Rated R, 138 Minutes
Director: Todd Phillips
Writer: Scott Silver, Todd Phillips, Bob Kane
Genre: Sequels that make you hate the original
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Want to hear Joaquin Phoenix sing, do we?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “This whole thing is set in prison?!”
