Joker: Folie À Deux has been branded the 'most disappointing follow-up to
the Oscar-winning movie' by critics, as they cast doubt on Lady Gaga's
'thin' role in the film following its release on Friday.
The 'bleak' sequel, has also received a tepid reception from fans, with some claiming Lady Gaga's
career could be at risk.
While the same director Todd Phillips was back in the hot seat, critics have
said the sequel is just a 'repeat' of the first hit but
with an added musical twist.
Most critics have said Todd failed to use Gaga correctly in the movie and claimed she was only bought in for
the musical aspect of it.
While the majority of critics say Joker: Folie À Deux didn't live up to
expectations, others have dubbed the movie 'bold' and 'brilliant'.
Joker: Folie À Deux has been branded the 'most disappointing follow-up to the Oscar-winning movie' by critics (Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga pictured in the movie)
While the same director Todd Phillips was back in the hot
seat, critics have said the sequel is just a 'repeat' of the
first hit but with an added musical twist
Joker: Folie à Deux premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival last month and was released in the United Kingdom and
the United States on Friday.
The Daily Mail's Brian Viner commended the move as 'bold' and 'brilliant' but said it lacked any thrill.
Giving the sequel a four star rating, he wrote: 'This film is audaciously different in style from
the original, not as electrifying, but bold and brilliant all the
same.
'Arthur is now behind bars, waiting to see whether he will be judged
sane enough to stand trial for murder, and in the meantime
enjoying his celebrity status with fellow prisoners and even the warders,
one of whom, a sadistic Irishman played by Brendan Gleeson,
feeds him cigarettes in return for jokes.
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Joker: Folie a Deux is a punchline five years
in the making, writes BRIAN VINER
'Lady Gaga plays Lee, a fellow inmate on her way, we suppose, to becoming Joker's girlfriend Harley
Quinn. The pair hit it off at a music therapy class, and are soon mutually smitten, but Lee
makes it clear that she loves the dangerously charismatic Joker, 'clown prince of crime', not the gloomily introspective Arthur.
'Which is more real: the psychopath wearing the mask or the vulnerable
fellow behind it? Either way, identity confusion is the theme of this film, which keeps being billed as a musical.
'It's not, really, although music looms large as an expression of Arthur and Lee's burgeoning love for one
another. And there are a couple of swooning dance routines that make them look like psychotic versions of Ryan Gosling and
Emma Stone in La La Land (2016).
'For me, Joker was a near-masterpiece, and while this sequel doesn't scale those heady heights, it is still a gripping film about mental illness;
not quite comparable with all-time greats such as Psycho (1960) and iqos iluma i one vs iluma one Flew Over
The Cuckoo's Nest (1975), but not too far off.'