“Joker: Folie a Deux” is a musical thriller featuring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck (Joker) and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. The film was directed by Todd Philliphs and got a 32% from critics who published their reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Joker: Folie a Deux” also known as “Joker 2” is mostly a jukebox musical getting songs from Lady Gaga’s latest album, “Harlequin.” The album was released on Sept. 27, just a few days before the movie release. Songs like “Happy mistakes” and “Get happy” became the most popular in the movie.
“Joker: Folie a Deux” is the continuation of the first Joker movie released in 2019. The 2019 Joker movie is a psychological thriller that dives deep into Arthur’s life. Arthur, also known as the Joker, was born in Gotham City and lives with his mom. He works as a comedian in a club and also works as a clown impressionist. One day, Arthur rides a train and gets attacked by three men. He uses his gun as a self defense motive and shoots all three of them. His actions had gone so viral around Gotham City that a television show host had invited him to his show. The ending showed Arthur killing the host on live television, landing him in jail.
Joker 1 was a box office hit when it first came out in theaters. It had made $1.079 billion dollars and was given an 8.4/10 from IMDb (Internet Movie Database). The movie won 2 Academy awards for “Best Actor” and “Best Original score” in 2020.
The 2024 Joker movie takes place two years after the first movie. The movie starts with Arthur on trial for his insane acts from the past. Arthur’s lawyer tries to convince the court that Arthur was not the one who did these heinous acts but instead, it was his split personality called “Joker.” While this case is still being processed, Arthur is said to be held in an asylum where he meets this woman named Harleen “Lee” Quinn. Quinn is an inmate in the asylum who is deeply obsessed with Joker. She says she feels a connection with joker, which is why the musical scenes in this movie visualize how Arthur and Harleen feel for each other as a couple.
The second Joker movie is named “Joker: Folie a Deux” because Folie a Deux means ‘madness of two’ in French. This indicates how Harleen Quinn and Arthur both suffer from a personality disorder which makes them stand out together when they are around others.
The ending of the movie had shown the audience that Arthur wasn’t the joker after all but instead just impersonated as the Joker. A lot of fans were not satisfied with the ending, leaving the theater disappointed.
As most sequels go, this movie didn’t set the bar as high as the first movie did. Fans had anticipated this movie to have Joker perform more villainous acts, but later, they were let down, finding this movie was based on Arthur’s sentencing. Other fans were disappointed to find out Joker 2 is a musical because fans find the Joker movies to be dark and mysterious. They find musicals cannot visualize this type of tone in a play.
