I popped along to check out Joker: Folie À Deux in IMAX at Cineworld Broughton the long-awaited sequel from acclaimed writer/director/producer Todd Phillips, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2019’s Academy Award-winning “Joker,” which earned more than $1 billion at the global box office and until recently was the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.
The new film stars Joaquin Phoenix once again in his Oscar-winning dual role as Arthur Fleck/Joker, opposite Oscar winner Lady Gaga (“A Star Is Born”). “Joker: Folie À Deux” finds Arthur Fleck institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that’s always been inside him.
It’s been five years since we were last treated to the amazing performance from Phoenix as Arthur Flek and now in this latest movie, the character is a little different from the one we met in the 2019 movie. We see Fleck waiting for his trial for the murders he committed in the first film and see that he is very much a shadow of his former self with substantial weight loss and a lack of joke-telling, even the guards keep asking him to tell a joke for a cigarette.
During a visit outside the prison, Fleck meets Lee (Lady Gaga) who befriends him. Still, there is more to her than wanting to meet him as she is a fan of Joker and we get the feeling that she is the manipulating force behind what plays out with Fleck and his Joker alter ego during the rest of the movie.
The Harley (or in this case Lee Quinzel) and Joker relationship builds in this very different take on the DC characters that many of us have come to love over the years, Lee is very much about the Joker and doesn’t have an interest in Arthur, this comes to light later in the film with a court seen with Arthur pouring out his heart.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the trailer for Joker: Folie À Deux, but it does have some moments that brought a smile to my face. Some people have been hating the movie for its musical pieces and I have read that several have walked out. But for me the musical numbers worked, they are set up for the connection between Lee and Joker hence the title of the movie, Folie À Deux (Madness for Two), which is about shared psychosis between two people and the musical number take us into their minds that are far away from reality and for that the sequences work.
If you are going into see this movie expecting much of the same as the previous movie then you will be surprised, the 2h 18m runtime does seem to drag in parts and there were moments that I was wondering where the Joker: Folie À Deux was going with the story, it’s certainly no the DC Joker we know it’s certainly a different take, much like the Elseworlds series of stories.
The cast of Joker: Folie À Deux work well together and it was great to see Joaquin Phoenix back in the role, Lady GaGa is always a joy to listen to when she is performing musical pieces, Brendan Gleeson certainly had an interesting role as the prison guard who mistreated Fleck and other prisoners for his pleasure, also it was a pleasant surprise to see Steve Coogan in the role as a reporter interviewing Fleck before his trial.
The movie I didn’t hate but I also didn’t love it at the same time, it was an interesting take on the character and what stood out for me was the cinematography and the IMAX sound mix. In some early scenes of the movie in the prison, you can hear the other prisoners over the many speakers in the IMAX screen, which was a little weird at first as I thought someone was talking loudly in their seats but that only goes to show how well the sound mix is. The IMAX sound works brilliantly throughout with quiet and loud noises being so crystal clear.
The soundtrack by Hildur Guðnadóttir sounds superb in IMAX and it works perfectly throughout the movie.
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