- Rating is 6.5/10
- Watched on Sept. 30 2024 @ Fan First Premiere (First Watch)
- Format: (Digital) IMAX
Todd Phillips repeats exactly what he did to The Hangover trilogy with Joker 2. The director goes on to make a sequel that is unfortunately empty and has no character development.
Phillips outdone himself in directing a film that has an outstanding cinematography/visuals that portrays every feeling and emotion that it wants to tell and express. BUT, he failed in creating an engaging storyline. From a part one to a part two, usually the characters of the film change. Their arc either declines or inclines. Their personalities change. Events/obstacles come along their way to shift their lives. OR new character/s enter their life which opens the door for more interesting events to come along their way resulting in a "Folie à Deux". In this film, Joker's/Arthur Fleck's life doesn't seem to change much as Gaga's character, Lee, is added. Instead, the film keeps repeating its events by REvisiting the past (the first Joker film) or reacting some of its scenes. It also keeps coming back and forth to the same locations and events within this film itself. Resulting in an overall dull film that is ONLY visually entertaining.
This film introduces two major characters within the Gotham world, Harvey Dent, who is played terribly by Harry Lawtey and written even worse. By the end of the film, I felt like he was useless and is taken advantage of because of his 'name' within the comic books fandom. Same goes to Lady Gaga's Lee that simply felt like it wasn't even in this film.
I enjoyed how this film uses music/songs to showcase that it's an ESCAPE for our inner selves. But, the song choices weren't on point. On the other hand, their performance was well done by Gaga or Joaquin Phoenix and Lawrence Sher's cinematography skills.