Joker Foley A Two first review: Critics say it’s unnecessary and disappointing
The first reviews of the highly anticipated ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’ are here. Reactions have been largely negative, with many questioning the film’s plot and direction.
The first reviews of Joker: Folie à Deux are here, and most of them are not impressed with the DC film starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. Despite the film’s warm reception at the ongoing Venice Film Festival, the Joker sequel has arguably failed to recreate the magic of the original.
IndieWire wrote in part of their review, “Folie Deux doesn’t give the people what they want. On the contrary, it actively fosters its own fans’ disappointment in order to illustrate how cruelly Arthur has been co-opted by the fantasies of the collective unconscious — lost in a dream his followers want to see for themselves.”
The BBC described the film, starring Joaquin Phoenix, as ‘disappointing’ and said, “It’s a disappointing film – but I doubt that’s what it’s meant to be. What Phillips is doing seems to be a response to the way Fleck was received by fans of the 2019 Joker. To me, he always came across as a passive unfortunate who incited riots more or less by accident, but some viewers saw him as a revolutionary Robin Hood, striking a blow for the underprivileged.”
“I must say that is not enough Foley in two. The film is two hours and 18 minutes long, and here’s the full plot: Arthur is wasting away in Arkham State Hospital. He meets Lee, who devotes herself to him. He goes to trial, and the debate over whether he has a dual personality or is just a criminal begins. A verdict is rendered. A lucky bomb goes off. The end,” Variety wrote in its review.
However, Deadline was clearly won over by the film as a section of its review for the film noted, “The Foley two imply a kind of shared madness — possibly two extreme hearts on the same wavelength or perhaps a clash inside the head of a troubled individual. When Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker, meets Harleen ‘Lee’ Quinnell, aka Harley Quinn, in director/co-writer Todd Phillips’ daring and head-turning follow-up to his billion-dollar-grossing 2019 origin story, Joker: Foley Two Maybe that’s all it is.”
Starring Zazie Beetz and Brendan Gleeson, Joker 2 will be released in cinemas here on October 4.
