Making this second instalment a musical was a crazy gamble, but a tempting proposition for exploring Arthur’s universe, but coupling it with a courtroom drama seemed more like a shot in the foot than anything else.

When the first Joker is set for release in October 2019, everyone expects it to be a success – a moderate one, but a sure one all the same. Especially since the film is being produced for a fraction of what superhero movies cost at the same time, with a budget in the $60M range. What nobody expected was that the film would go on to earn over a billion dollars and 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. From then on, it was hard to conceive of a future where the studio wouldn’t give Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix all the resources on the planet to concoct a second installment to his film, and Todd used up a lot of those resources.

With a budget of close to $200 million, Joker: Folie à Deux set its sights on something bigger and more eccentric, and it certainly succeeded in doing just that, turning this second installment into a musical. Two years after his five (six) murders, Arthur Fleck is imprisoned in Arkham Asylum, where the redundancy of days with his piss bucket and the jokes of guard Jackie (Brendan Gleeson) seem to have drained Arthur of all hope despite his popularity in the metropolis. Everyone knows Arthur/Joker, so much so that a cartoon – shown at the beginning of the film – was produced about his character. And among the Joker’s fans is Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), whom Arthur meets in the Asylum before falling madly in love with her. This event gives the character hope, the joy of living and singing. And he’ll need his new-found enthusiasm to face the tedious justice of a trial broadcast live on TV, aimed at answering a central question: were the murders committed by Arthur Fleck or Joker ?

Joker: Folie à Deux is Todd Phillips’ opportunity to enter the imaginary world of his depressive, suicidal character, to show the colors and fantasies of fame and applause that the Joker dreams of. The use of the musical genre serves as a gateway to this universe, with every sung moment an imagination of his character. Using the settings of the Asylum, the courtroom or completely fictional stages, the Musical serves as a vehicle for the two characters’ relationship. But then, when the musical sequence ends, we’re back in the Asylum or the courtroom waiting for the next narrative progression, and quite often we’re waiting a long time. At 138 minutes, Joker: Folie à Deux too often seems to be treading water, moving forward in baby steps. The film quickly locks itself into an infernal circle of sequences at the Asylum, trial after trial of witnesses, a few songs in between and we’re in for another round. The relationship between Arthur and Lee seemed to be the key to relevant character development, but Lee is more interested in the Joker than Arthur, and if we forget the music, we hardly see the character in clown make-up.

Phillips knew he’d hit the jackpot with Joker, perhaps even a little too soon, for despite the return of Hildur Guðnadóttir to the soundtrack and a dirty, greenish aesthetic, Joker: Folie à Deux fails to detach itself from its first installment. A sort of glamorization, almost fetishization, of the first film quickly sets in, as Arthur resumes his leaning-back, kicking gestures, while the same compositional notes from the first – albeit so well composed by Guðnadóttir – resonate throughout the film. The musical pieces and choreography give color to Arthur’s imaginary world, and give him a way to express himself in a different way. But it’s clearly not enough to justify a plot without feeling like constant navel-gazing.

Making this second instalment a musical was a crazy gamble, but a tempting proposition for exploring Arthur’s universe, but coupling it with a courtroom drama seemed more like a shot in the foot than anything else.