As blasphemous as it is to admit in these parts, Joker: Folie a Deux proves Joaquin Phoenix is a better Clown Prince of Crime than WA’s Heath Ledger.
That’s not a knock on Ledger, who died of an accidental overdose of prescription medications before the world got to see his epic version of the character in 2008’s The Dark Knight.
His visceral performance as the Joker earned him a posthumous Academy Award in the supporting actor category, and remains a fixture in pop culture to this day, with a leading toy company announcing a new figurine in Ledger’s likeness as recently as July.
But, ultimately, Ledger’s Joker was a comic book villain, while Phoenix’s iteration is something more, all but ignoring the broader Batman universe to make a statement about society’s treatment of the mentally ill.
That statement in Todd Phillip’s 2019 Joker was a little problematic for glorifying the evolution of a loner, Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck, to a murderous misanthrope.
The most notable of the five murders committed in that movie (not including smothering his own abusive mother) was the slaying of talk show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) on live television, which, when combined with killing three Wall Street bros, made Fleck a cult hero to Gotham’s disenfranchised.
Some feared the first film would serve as a manifesto for real-life loners, co-opted online by incels and the like, and used as motivation for real-world violence.
There’s not much evidence to suggest that ever happened, but Phillips and Phoenix were taking no chances the second time around by giving us something as far removed from incel ideology as you can get – a musical love story.
The man who committed those aforementioned crimes seems long gone, with Fleck dutifully taking his meds and telling jokes to the guards of Arkham Asylum to earn cigarettes, while awaiting his court date to stand trial for said crimes.
And, yes, it IS a musical, which might seem like an indulgent and confusing twist until you dig deeper into the film’s title.
Folie a deux is a fancy French way of describing shared delusional disorder, a psychiatric syndrome where a delusional belief or psychosis is shared between individuals.
Spoiler alert: the musical numbers are a delusional fantasy shared between Fleck and his Arkham Asylum love interest, Lee, which is shorthand for Harleen Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn, the character made famous by our Margot Robbie, but portrayed very differently here by pop star Lady Gaga.
Honestly, audiences will probably agree with Fleck when he says to Lee at one point, “Stop singing and just talk to me”, but the more you lean into this bad romance (yes, a Gaga reference), the more you’ll appreciate just how amazing Phoenix’s performance is.
Arguably even better than the 2019 original, for which he won the Oscar for best actor. That’s how good he is.
As for the plot itself, this sequel is mostly a courtroom drama and is paced as such, making it quite unlike any other comic book movie.
Recreating the gritty hyper-realism of the first movie, Phillips treats his fractured characters with care, while also providing room for a brilliant turn from Brendan Gleeson as a terrifying Arkham guard.
Liking the first movie is no guarantee you’ll like this one, but its bold creative choices and gorgeous cinematography demand respect.
Will it be the billion-dollar, Oscar-winning hit the first movie was? Probably not. But it’s a worthy, artful follow-up, and may even have a Ledger Easter egg at the end.
4 stars
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson & Catherine Keener
Rating: MA15+
In Cinemas: Now
