Joker: Folie à Deux Film SPOILER FILLED Film Review

This past few weeks have been some really good weeks for DC and Warner Bros Pictures with the release of The Penguin on HBO and the announcement of a new animated movie just a few short days ago. Well now it's all been topped of with the release of a sequel to the film that really did take everyone by surprise when it first released all the way back in 2019 and well then you all just knew that I had to check out this film the very first chance that I got and so then join me as I give my SSPOILER FILLED review of the film that really didn't need to exist in the first place with the film in question being called simply just "Joker: Folie à Deux" enjoy.

The plot of this film is a few years after the events of the first film Arthur Fleck now has to deal with going to court for having a split personality and finds himself in love. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty  in all honesty personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad but at the same time this films plot isn't all that good as it doesn't advance the plot of the first film in any meaningful way and when compared to the plot of the first film this films plot does feel really tame almost as if this one had more studio eyes looking at it then what was the case with the first film and as a result of that is the fact that we end up with a plot that doesn't feel like it belongs in the world of the first film and instead feels like it's a spin off film for another Batman movie and that's really it and heck the plot of this film doesn't even have the same level of thought and genius that the first films plot has as the plot of this film isn't that thought provoking and is just overall really tame when compared to that of the first film with the plot of this film being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck / The Joker and Lady Gaga as Harleen "Lee" Quinzel / Harley Quinn. Also starring in this film is Brendan Gleeson as Jackie Sullivan , Catherine Keener as Maryanne Stewart , Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond , Steve Coogan as Paddy Meyers , Harry Lawtey as Harvey Dent , Jacob Lofland as Ricky Meline , Ken Leung as Dr. Victor Liu and Bill Smitrovich as Judge Herman Rothwax.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this vey film was in all honesty not that bad. However that's also the problem as the acting that's in this film isn't all that good which is really odd as the film does have some really good actors who we know for a fact can act and the film does have the same creative team as the first film and yet for some reason it just doesn't result in there being alot of really good performances in this film as while yes Joaquin Phoenix is still phenomenal as Arthur Fleck the same thing cannot be said for the rest of this films cast who are just there with there characters not really adding anything to the overall film and there performances being nothing more then OK at best and nowhere is this better showed of then Lady Gaga who despite being a really good actress in this film she just comes across as being wooden and having no chemistry with Joaquin Phoenix with the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that the script for this film is just so bad as it gives none pf this films cast absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there respective characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does effect the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film. 

Doing the CGI for this film is Barnstorm VFX , Igene Xforia , Industrial Light & Magic , Lola Visual Effects , Scanline VFX and Wylie Co.. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as just like the first film this film really only uses CGI to enhance what was already there on the day of filming with them maybe adding more people into crowded scenes and to create fire when there main actors are right infront of it and that's really it and that's a great to use CGI as it grounds the film is realism and it means that there only really using CGI when they really have to and not because they want to which they very easily could have done given that this film has a bigger budget when compared to that of the first film and because of that the films effects budget most likely would have been huge as well but even so you can't really tell because there's nothing that really stands out from an effects point of view all of which really does make you wonder why this film has effects in it anyway as just like this film this film really doesn't need any kind of CGI effects in it whatsoever.

SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!

For some strange reason this film chooses to ignore the fact that Arthur has several laughs depending on how he's feelings. Which is granted a very minor issue but it also chooses to ignore the fact that alot of the first film was told from the point of view of Arthur and as a result of that is the fact that all of the characters in the first film that we would normally like we hate and yet in this film despite still being told from the point of Arthur everybody is presented as they normally would be with there being nothing that lets you know that Arthur has mental problems where as not only was that all over the first film it was even a key plot point of the first film as well with it serving as one of the the many reasons as to why Arthur finally went insane and started killing the people who had wronged him in that film yet in this film none of that matters with Arthur instead being presented to us as someone who is sound of mind and who for the most part does know what he's doing with his out burst at the end of the first film being blamed on the fact that he has a split personality when that's clearly not the case as he was someone who knew what he was doing and yet did it anyway just because of the fact that he believed that they wronged him in some way shape or form and because of the fact that all of Gotham City including those who are meant to protect and to help Arthur out not doing so.

One of the thing that this film does get right does come in the fact that Lee and Arthur's relationship is one that's built on the fact that Lee just wants to get famous. Which is a good idea and while there relationship is a little bit hard to buy into just because of the fact that Lee is quite literally Harley Quinn and thus people know her comic book story and this film does make alot of changes to that but that the same time tho for the tone that this film is going for and for the more realistic approach that this film is going for having her be someone who comes from a wealthy and is pretty much only using the fame that Arthur got because of the last film for no reason other then she wants to be famous is a solid idea and to the films credit it does go as for as they could have done with that idea but at the same time tho it's also not an idea that works for this film the film doesn't really go into that much detail about it with it only being highlighted one or twice with Lee still being just as insane as she is in the comic books only without any of the charm that makes it work in the comics and while Lady Gaga is a solid choice to play this type of a character knowing that her character just wants fame doesn't really work when you cast someone who is as well known as Lady Gaga is and it makes you wonder why they didn't cast an unknown or perhaps someone who isn't that known that well just play the character in order to make that part of the character work even better then what it does.

In what could be seen as both a good and a bad thing is the fact that this film is jukebox musical as how they do it in the film does work for both characters. As they only have these very short musical numbers happen in both of there heads and that;s really it which is something that does work for both characters as both Lee and Arthur aren't that mentally well and as a result of that is the fact that it is easy to imagine the two of them having a musical number going on in there heads but at the same time it also doesn't work as we spent quite alot of the first film in Arthur's head and there wasn't any musical numbers happening then and as such while it is obvious that they only included the songs in this film because of the fact that they hired Lady Gaga none of the songs add anything to the plot of the film with them just being there for the sake of being there where as if they at least used songs from Lady Gaga's new album Harlequin which they don't really do alot of the time with the musical numbers in this film not really being helped by the fact that actor Joaquin Phoenix really cannot sing and the makers of this film do nothing to help him to improve his voice with the best song in the film being called I think "The Joker Is Me" which is a wonderfully dark song and is a song that's sung somewhat well but any song that's sung by Joaquin Phoenix isn't going to be sung all that well as he really cannot sing in anyway whatsoever.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and four minuets and forty eight seconds. Which is pretty much the exact same running time that the first film but this film really doesn't have alot there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time as it;s plot is so thin at best that at times it's hard to tell what the actual plot of the film even is in the first place and while that could also be argued that that's also the same for the first film as well that film at least had interesting characters and an interesting set up to make you forget about the fact that the plot isn't the strongest aspect of the first film where as with this film because of the fact that the whole film is all about Arthur's court case and really nothing all the more then that it kind of forces you to focuses on the plot alot more and when you do that the whole idea behind of this film and this plots as a whole really does start to fall to pieces and while the film does develop some of it's characters it really doesn't add anything to this film films version of the Harley Quinn character to make seem interesting and heck even Batman: Caped Crusader at least did something new and interesting with there version of Harley Quinn something that this film failed to do this is despite the fact that this film has the longer running time and really could have developed more alot more then what they already do but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a drama that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. However that's also the problem as alot of this films drama isn't all that good as all of the films drama revolves around the drama between Lee and Arthur and not about Arthur's struggle to deal with what he did in the first film which is where the all of the drama should have gone instead of putting alot if not all of the drama on his relationship with Lee and his court case and while it does make sense to have drama happen in his court case as that is a quite dramatic setting regardless of what the situation it doesn't really make sense to have alot of drama in his relationship with Lee at least not as often as they do as there relationship shouldn't be the main focus of the film it should be the court case and it's obvious that that's where the makers of the film put alot of there attention as that's where we get alot of the best scenes in the whole entire film but if your thinking that Arthur will make it out of this film alive despite all of this drama then be prepared to be let down as they kill him off at the end of the movie all of which really makes it crystal clear that there was no clear plan for a Joker 2 despite all of the really good court room drama that we have in this very film which is really done in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall this really is  a film that really didn't need to be made as the first film should have been a one and done film as it wrapped up the story perfectly which makes this film feel pointless and doomed to fail due to how good and how well received that the first Joker film was in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Batman fandom wiki page , the official DC Movies fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from the really great Google Images are all really high quality and in definition with really with all of the images that really are all currently up and really presently on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.