A true folly in Joker: Folie à Deux
With so much hype created around the picture before it was released, loyal fans of the DC comic universe were most probably expecting something more than what was displayed.
SHAH SHAMSHIRI
After a rather dark prequel on the big screen in 2019, one of DC Comics’ most notorious supervillains, The Joker makes a comeback in 2024. Bearing the title ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ the film unveils how The Joker started his romantic and chaotic relationship with his well-known partner in (love) and crime, Harley Quinn.
Though the movie features amazing performances by Lady Gaga as Harley, and Joaquin Phoenix who reprises his role as Batman’s long-time nemesis The Joker, Folie à Deux unfortunately turned out to be a true folly instead.
With so much hype created around the picture before it was released, loyal fans of the DC comic universe were most probably expecting something more than what was displayed.
The movie depicts Arthur Fleck’s a.k.a The Joker’s days in prison while awaiting his trial in court. During his imprisonment, Fleck is befriended by a fellow female inmate named Harleen "Lee" Quinzel ( Harley Quinn) who develops a romantic obsession for Fleck. It is later revealed that Lee isn’t actually an inmate but a psychiatrist who deliberately checked herself into the establishment just to get close to Fleck.
Though it serves as a good introduction to how Harley Quinn came to be, the premise (like the more recent movies of the Batman universe) seemed to have steered off the original intent of becoming a movie about supervillains.
Throughout the film, the audience will be either enthralled or more likely bored by several musical scenes that actually appear unnecessary in telling the Joker’s story.
In fact, there will be times when you might be asking yourself if you are watching a Broadway musical instead of a dark comic book movie.
As Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix pranced to some familiar oldies throughout more than half of the movie, the essence of the sinister Joker slowly fades leaving fans (like this writer) a tad disappointed with the feature.
Remnants of Lady Gaga’s astounding performance in her older movie ‘A Star is Born’ suddenly comes to mind as she sings and dances alongside her lead star in this film.
Despite the world being more welcoming of new ideas on the big screen, the last few films from Batman’s world seemed to have taken away the simple joys of comics and superheroes.
With themes becoming darker alongside the gloomy ambience of these features, superhero movies which used to be something that can be enjoyed by children (who are usually the biggest superhero fans) can no longer be deemed suitable for all ages.
This is due to the various mature or adult elements portrayed in these fictional products, as shown in this feature as well.
However, as many are likening the movie to a musical rather than a fictional crime-thriller, it does (not surprisingly) have an awe-inspiring sound track, picking some very familiar old tunes of yesteryears.
This fact unfortunately does not save the movie from the bad reviews it has been getting.
Simply put, this Joker movie turned out to be a real joke if not a failed folly that could have been something so much more.
Joker: Folie à Deux is currently showing in all Malaysian cinemas starting Oct 3, 2024.
