Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

I was one of many people who ended up enjoying Joker when it was released back in 2019. It was a divisive movie though, and many hated it. Surprising as it may seem, one of the people who seems to have hated it more than most is . . . director Todd Phillips. Well, to be more accurate, he seems to hate the character, and seems to hate how he has been held up as some icon of cool. And the people who use images of Joker and Harley Quinn to state "couple goals"? Yeah, Phillips hates you just as much, if not more so.

It's time for Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix reprising the role) to be put on trial. Having been imprisoned since the events of the last movie, Fleck has become a lightning rod for an uneasy population thinking they may have an anarchic hero to support and push forward like a giant wrecking ball. Arthur gets the attention of Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), the two sharing a love of daydreaming their way through some song and dance numbers, but this doesn't sit well with his lawyer, Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener). None of this growing unrest, nor the celebrity prisoner's growing popularity, sits well with prison officer Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson), which essentially paints a large target on Arthur's back.

EVERYTHING that was good about Joker is destroyed here. Everything. And when I say destroyed I mean fully torn apart, shredded, pulped, shredded again, set on fire, and the ashes packed into a small rocket that is fired directly into the sun. Did you like the visual style? It's here again, but somehow feels like the lazy choice this time around, especially when it invaded even the scenes that should make use of some colour and light. Did you like the nihilism and misanthropy? It's here, but it's so constantly in your face that it feels like an angry toddler pulling on your ears as it screams Nietzsche quotes at you. Did you like the central character? You shouldn't, not according to Phillips anyway. Joker is a weak and pathetic victim, unexpectedly elevated to a position of power that he is absolutely unprepared for.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that Phillips tries hard to make his disdain palpable in every scene. There are very few moments here that actually work in movie terms, and one of those atypical treats happens at the very beginning of the film (a bit of animation that hints at an anarchy and energy the rest of the film stubbornly refuses to revisit), and even the much-discussed musical numbers fall flat because a) Phillips refuses to commit to them, and b) they feel as if they're just present to deliberately repel anyone who enjoyed the first film. There's something slightly admirable about Phillips making use of the money and resources available to create such a huge Joker-topped pyre, but it also feels, well, just a bit rude.

At least there's a decent cast, and I don't really have any complaints about Gaga, Gleeson, Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawtey (as a rather bland Harvey Dent), and Leigh Gill. I do have complaints about Phoenix though, and the fact that he is still the main star means that his awful performance helps to damage the film in a way that I am sure Phillips actively encouraged. Phoenix is limp and lifeless throughout, except for the moments in which he deliberately chooses to overact and fool around. Everything he did so well in the first movie is alchemically transformed from gold to lead this time around.

Phillips, co-writing the screenplay once again with Scott Silver, does everything to ensure that this second film puts a handful of nails in the coffin of the main character. Both he and his leading man should be embarrassed by how bad this is, but I suspect they're already on to other projects without giving this a second thought. It's just fans who will be affected by it, fans of the Joker and/or fans of cinema. And Phillips couldn't be clearer about what he thinks of those people. Remember that the next time he works on something that he actually cares about.

3/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

I read a book that was gifted to me many years ago called "Quoth The Crow", by David Bischoff. I enjoyed it, but I also recognised that it wasn't great. It just happened to tie into things that I enjoyed; namely The Crow and Edgar Allen Poe. I also quite enjoyed The Raven, a film that pits Poe (played in that movie by John Cusack) against an inventive serial killer, despite also recognising that it wasn't great. It was entertaining, and fun, but not great. The Pale Blue Eye isn't great, yet it has a great cast and the makings of something great. So why did I dislike it quite so much?

Christian Bale plays Augustus Landor, a detective who is hired to investigate the murder of a young military cadet. Landor soon meets a young, striking, Edgar Allen Poe (Harry Melling). Poe is insightful, but also soon comes under suspicion himself. Getting to the bottom of the mystery may not lead to a happy ending for either of our two main characters, and they will surely ruffle some feathers on their way to unmasking the killer, who murders once again while the investigation is ongoing.

Based on a novel of the same name by Louis Bayard, writer-director Scott Cooper gives himself a big helping hand by casting the film well. Bale remains an undeniably effective and talented performer, but he seems to settle into a bit of a rut nowadays when aligning himself so closely to the likes of Cooper, and David O. Russell (of course). Melling is a good fit for the role of young Poe, and the supporting cast includes such notable luminaries as Timothy Spall, Simon McBurney, Toby Jones, Robert Duvall, and Gillian Anderson. Unfortunately, most of them are sorely underused, leaving time and space for performances from Harry Lawtey, Lucy Boynton, Fred Hechinger, Joey Brooks, and Charlotte Gainsbourg, as well as many others populating a tale that paradoxically delivers far too much and far too little. You get a wealth of talent unable to shine, you get a murder mystery without any real tension developed, and you get Poe as a main character without making it feel as if him BEING Poe is really relevant to the premise or plotting of the film.

I would rush to say if the script was the big weakness of this film, and it could certainly do with some tweaks and improvements here and there, but I think the biggest problem is the way that Cooper half-heartedly serves up a film that he doesn't seem passionate about. The thriller side of things doesn't thrill, the drama is even less engaging, and there's no sense of anything coming together as it should. That wouldn't be so bad if Cooper had decided to at least sprinkle some fun into the mix, but he doesn't do that either. The Pale Blue Eye, lacking any one successful element, cast notwithstanding, just feels like a few people showing how smug and clever they can be, all while onlookers (and that includes other cast members) become increasingly bored and exasperated.

It looks nice, generally, but that's not enough. This is a movie with the money and resources to do more than just look nice. A basic level of technical competence is the minimum to be expected, and it's what you get (including a score by Howard Shore). But you don't get more than that. The Pale Blue Eye = the bare minimum.

3/10

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