Joker: Folie à Deux Review - Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga Give Riveting Performances

nerd reactor roll out what's up everybody John here and it's time to talk about Joker fad do and this is a sequel to the first Joker film from director Todd Phillips starring hen Phoenix they're back in this one again and Wen f is back as Arthur AKA The Joker and Todd phlips he's back and this continues right after where he left off so here are my thoughts for Joker follow Ado uh Joker follow do defies all expectations the dancing and the music are pivotal in the first Joker film and it has been blown up to a jukebox musical uh with the uh the raw gaging performances from Lady Gaga and hen Phoenix and I do feel like the sequel will divide audiences uh but at its core it's about the duality of Arthur Fleck and Joker and it's an intriguing looking in how the reality of the situation and the fantasy Collide and so what I liked about this is the of course the performances from Wen Phoenix as Arthur Fleck and Lady Gaga uh as Harley so with Wen Phoenix as Arthur Flack so he's back he's dealing with the situations with the the incident or incidents from the first film you know uh killing the three dudes in the train um killing one of his colleagues and so you know killing Robert Deniro's character and also his mother oh yeah so now yeah Arthur Fleck he's now at Arkham he's pretty much imprisoned and can't really go anywhere uh after what he's done and of course as this is happening uh they're trying to do a court case for Arthur for all the stuff he's done and because of all the stuff he's done uh he's been publicized on the Murray Franklin show people are following him he's created a fan basee of just these hardcore fans and you you can see like what he has done at the end of the first Joker film and with this uh you know he's he's like a celebrity now and people know who he is but he's still inside Arkham and yeah so pretty much life inside uh the uh Arkham is not good because you have Brendan gleon one of the guards uh very self fish guard and always out for himself and also not good for Arthur Fleck and he can be brutal punishing and all that like if he doesn't like what you're doing uh he may beat you up and that's pretty much like it just reminds me of sha Shank Redemption just like just how crappy prison life can be so thanks to brand and G's guard character uh he wants to visit other areas of Arkham and and so he takes Arthur Fleck with them like you know if Arthur Fleck is going to be in this program that means Brendan Gleason's character is going to be there so he gets to just see other areas and that's where Arthur flexes Harley played by Lady Gaga and like in the trailer you see like oh look uh you know Harley Quinn she's also in this um institution and so yeah with Harley Quinn you're you're thinking like oh is this a different take of Harley and you know she's already inside the Arkham institution and I wonder like if they're going to explain like uh if this is going to be her take but then if you watch the movie all will be explained and so as for the character for the story I think fans of Harley Quinn will be pleased with this and just like her origin story uh you know seeing where she's coming from because you know there's more to Harley Quinn that what you've seen in the trailer and with Lady Gaga uh of course you're going to bring her this is a jukebox musical you're going to have Lady Gaga you're going to have to have her sing and with wien Phoenix and Lady Gaga they have performances together it's kind of like this uh fairy tale uh movie like um like the musical like there there are certain parts um where it was like oh they're really singing But then most of the time the musical aspect it's all in the mind and so that's how Todd PHS was was able to make this work where he's you know W Phoenix and Lady Gaga is singing in front of people in this world of inside Gotham City uh to make it make sense and that's another thing I like about this is like the abstract nature of like these musicals uh the song and dance numbers where it's all most of it is just in their minds they're just thinking about it they're imagining things and but it still feels like raw like the performances between the these two like remember that scene the the first movie he's in the bathroom he's dancing and so just imagine that just being more elevated in this film like you're going to have the dancing then you're going to have the singing and you know hen Phoenix you know Arthur Fleck he's not all there and another thing I liked about this is that it answers questions from the first film like what was real in the first film and what was fake and so in the first film pretty much a lot of things you see in the first film it actually happen uh let's say the the stuff with Z zazi beats like the the weird stuff that Arthur Fleck how he's acting around her yeah um so you're like this guy's this guy's kind of creepy and so with this movie what I'm not a fan of is the whole switching back and forth between Arkham and the court cases cuz the court uh you know you're dealing with Arthur Fleck what he's done from the first film and I feel like it's too constricting cuz uh you know with The Joker film like the first one you know he's out and bound he's doing his own thing he's all over uh Gotham City and you know I just wish there was more to that I wish there was like uh with the first film it's like he's Rising into Power you know like at the very end he's been killing a lot of people and also he's been creating a lot of fans so everything just crazy and here it just feels like it goes back to square one again because now he's he's trapped and he's stuck between Arkham and uh you know being in the court you trying to defend himself with his lawyer and and so a lot of the court stuff it's yeah I'm yeah the court stuff is boring to me um so it's kind of like rehashing like what happened in the first film and another thing I want to talk about is the ending uh this this movie will be surprising it will be shocking and I think with the first film it's all about the construction of the Joker uh with this movie I feel like it's going to be the uh not not I feel like it is the deconstruction of Arthur Fleck and so that's all I'm going to say about that but overall still an engaging movie and I I feel like this is going to be divided between audiences on how they feel depending on the ending uh but like when you take yourself out of like whatever it is the uh what you know of the Joker and you just watch it as like the this movie The First movie and the second movie and just the power of the Joker and his influence this is like this is one of those movies like wow this is different and I know why they want to bring this to uh the Venice Film Festival because uh yeah this is this is a movie that's people's going to be talking about um people's going to be maybe talking back and forth like oh what what just happened what's happening how do I feel about this I'm unsure and yeah Joker Folly ad do it's just that that's the type of film that this is uh but yeah this is yeah Joker F de uh you know once the movie comes out let me know what your thoughts are on the coms below uh because I want to know if whether you like the the ending or not and just the uh the Journey of Arthur Fleck in this movie Joker Folly Ado so with that said I'm John and I'll see you guys next time