Underused Lady Gaga, sometimes boring

Joker: Folie À Deux It was made public on Wednesday Todd Phillips‘ is the sequel to the critically and box office hit Joker The first reviews of the film, which premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, have started to come in.

Warner Bros. movie stars Joaquin Phoenix He plays Arthur Fleck/Joker, a role that earned Phoenix a best actor Oscar for his performance in the 2019 film. Joining the action in the sequel Lady Gaga She stars in the key role of Harley Quinn, the Joker’s equally damaged companion in crime. Joker: Folie À DeuxArthur Fleck is institutionalized in Arkham while awaiting trial for his crimes as the Joker. According to previously released trailers, this is where he finds true love with Gaga’s Harley Quinn, as well as “the music that was always inside him.”

Joker: Folie À Deux Also starring Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener. Zazie Beetz, JokerThe sequel is scheduled to be released on October 4.

Read on and see What the critics say about Joker: Folie À DeuxIt has received mixed reviews so far.

Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic David Rooney says: Folie À Deux “uneven,” writing that Gaga’s performance was commendable, while noting that the sequel stumbles because it is “a bit narratively weak and occasionally dull.” Phillips and co-writer on the first film, Scott Silver, Joker had the solid foundations for not one but two Martin Scorsese films, Taxi Driver And King of Comedy“It’s a place to hang their story and set their tone. It’s more of a conceit than a solid story foundation.”

Jo-Ann Titmarsh writes for London’s newspaper Evening StandardHe agreed with Rooney, noting that the film lacked “a thrilling thrill” and “a sense of madness taking over.” He added, “Despite its fascinating and complex protagonist, the film is ultimately dull and slow-moving, taking us nowhere, ever.”

Meanwhile, Vulture‘s Allison Willmore feels that one of the film’s main problems is that Arthur “just isn’t that interesting, no matter how much Phoenix tries to portray the character in extremely painful mental and sunken-chested physical detail.” She also writes that even when Arthur “thinks he’s got control,” he “becomes a punching bag for the world and, more importantly, for the director, who subjects the character to so much humiliation that he stops making the character pathetic and starts making the joke seem like one long, complicated joke.”

ProtectorDespite the fanfare her starring role received, Gaga was underused in the sequel, stating that the film’s “constructed story doesn’t give (Gaga’s) character much of a chance to develop.”

However, some critics loved Phillips’ new take on the Joker and his lover.

“Phillips and Silver have delivered something no one expected: a socially responsible Joker movie that finds a compelling way to explore the ramifications of the first film (both onscreen and off).” NMEMatthew Turner writes:Joker But fans shouldn’t cry too much; Warner Bros. has found a clever way to leave the door slightly open for the series to continue if needed.”

Independent‘s Geoffrey Macnab thought Phillips was “clearly having fun in the director’s chair” with “a tour of at least a century of Hollywood”, with musical numbers and references to various classics. He found Phoenix’s performance to remain “powerful and exciting”, allowing viewers to “care about Arthur despite his neediness and instability”.

John Nugent Empire He also thinks the musical moments help the story, writing, “The unusual, unpolished delivery of Phoenix and Gaga’s songs doesn’t sell the dialogue-heavy script so much as it does — Burt Bacharach’s ‘Close To You’ has rarely been performed with such chilling force — but where the first film was relentlessly oppressive and somber, there’s a strangely hopeful tone here. Arthur’s performance in ‘For Once In My Life,’ in particular, is an intriguing blend of quiet menace and genuine passion.”