I’ve gone back and read my review for Joker (this is why I review, my memory is terrible). I knew I liked it, but it turns out I loved it… will I love the follow up? After a darkly bleak cartoon intro, things start even darker and bleaker with our malnourished chain-smoking antihero Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) in jail. It’s not necessary to have seen Joker (although you should). The basics are covered again here, he’s killed and has wound up in the dank dark Gotham prison. Arthur, known better as Joker, is famously insane, although that’s up for debate here. He’s dangerous sure, but likeable and although he doesn’t talk for the first 10 minutes of this, Phoenix is so expressive, he’s utterly captivating with even the subtlest of movements. His split personality is his defence against the charges, but before we get in to the legal stuff, he gets the chance at some music rehabilitation, where he meets ‘Lee’ (Lady Gaga). She knows Arthur’s story. Everyone does. He’s a celebrity. Doing interviews behind bars with TV personality Paddy Meyers (Steve Coogan). That’s all largely fluff. The important thing is Lee’s not scared of Arthur, she admires him and this opens something in him. Singing for a start. How you feel about singing in films will be a big factor here. There’s a lot of it. It’s not a full blown musical, but it more than dips a toe. There’s singing in jail, singing in trial as he tries to avoid the electric chair. I’ll be honest it’s a struggle, even with Arthur’s fantasy cutaways. The first film seemed to ride its pace well, it was slow in the all right places and knew when and how much to hit the gas. This though, largely just plods. Phoenix is still pretty magnificent, but even he can’t carry this. Gaga is good too, they play off one another well, but it’s still a mess. I’m all for challenging cinema. Usually the weirder the better, but this doesn’t know what it wants to be. Maybe that’s the point, perhaps it’s to appear as random and disjointed as Arthur’s shattered reality. It has moments, it’s not all bad. But it’s needlessly long and sadly dull. So no, I don’t love it and have little faith in the story dragging on for a third instalment, although I’m sure it will. Maybe that’ll be better, this sets the bar pretty low.
4/10
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