Joker
Rohan Naahar
The Indian Express
Todd Phillips would rather set fire to his own franchise than let the wrong people take inspiration from it; is Vanga watching?
A perverse punchline to a joke that has been played on all of us, Todd Phillips' Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, is bolder, bigger, and altogether braver than the first film.
You’d think that the world was a less paranoid place five years ago, when the collective trauma of the pandemic hadn’t clobbered us on the head with a comically large mallet. But remember when governments were put on high alert before the release of a comic book movie about a murderous clown? Prepared for the riots that the supposedly incendiary film might incite, teams of police were stationed outside certain screenings of Todd Phillips’ Joker — a movie that was viewed by alarmists as a sort of dog whistle for basement-dwelling incels.
Joker
Shomini Sen
Wion
Lady Gaga is underutilised in a boring, uninspiring sequel
Written by Todd Philips and Scott Silver, Joker: Folie à Deux is a sequel to the 2019 film Joker. The American psychological musical drama has Joaquin Phoenix returning as the troubled DC villain Joker, a role that earned him an Oscar in 2019. Giving him company in part 2 is Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, a fellow inmate that Arthur meets at the asylum and who matches his crazy with her set of crazy.
There is a moment early in Todd Philips’ latest film Joker: Folie à Deux featuring the leads Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga that summarises the film well. It is the first courtroom scene in the film and Phoenix’s Joker is desperately looking at the door waiting for Lee or Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga) to walk into the court. Joker or Arthur Flec is on trial for killing six people including a popular chat show host live on television. While the tension in the room is palpable, Arthur keeps looking at the door. Lee enters and the two lovers exchange a smile. As Lee settles in, Arthur looks at her and pretends to stifle a yawn- referring to how boring the legal proceedings and the room is. The moment accurately captures the mood of the film.
Joker
Priyanka Roy
The Telegraph
Folie a Deux doesn’t submit to formula but fails to hit any high notes
After a haul of $1 billion at the box office, 11 Academy Award nominations and the first-ever Oscar for Joaquin Phoenix, director Todd Phillips knew it would be carte blanche for him when it came to the inevitable sequel to 2019’s intriguing if ultimately superficial Joker
“Let’s give the people what they want,” Lady Gaga’s Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (aka Harley Quinn) declares at a key moment in Joker: Folie a Deux. That seems odd coming from a film that is committed to giving audiences quite the opposite.