destroyerwod

I saw the first movie in theatre. I was convinced by a friend because honestly Dramas/character studies type of movies are not usually my thing, but i like Batman and obviously the Joker. Surprisingly, i enjoyed the movie a lot, even tough it was a very slow burn and not a movie i would rewatch until a long time. I thought the descent into madness and the atmosphere was well done.

When this movie was announced as a musical, i was pretty disapointed because musicals are something i like even less than dramas. I didn't got to see it in theatre and when the reviews started popping how disapointing it was, it took me a little while to finally watch it at home. I was not in a hurry.

I did today and well... can't say i enjoyed it much. Part of it were good and once again Joaquin Pheonix give a solid performance. Lady Gaga was also pretty good acting wise and i didn't dislike this version of Harley altough it was a bit one dimensional and lacking on the crazy side.

The issue is the story kinda felt stale, like very stale. You have maybe 45 minutes of story and the rest are musical numbers chained one after the other and it just pulled me out of the movie. I think the only musical i ever enjoyed was Once More with Feeling in Buffy, probably because how much i like these characters and the songs were very catchy.

In Joker Folie a Deux, despite some good visuals and costumes, i didn't felt any song was actually catchy or basically did anything for me musically. And do they add to the story? A bit maybe but not much. They happen too frequently and it just felt like watching a movie on TV where i have to wait for commercials to finish.

One musical sequence like the first movie or even that "Bully Mcguire" scene in Spider-Man 3 is fine for me, but when they pop every 5 minutes, its too much.

Ultimately i didn't hate the movie like some peoples, and maybe its because i already expected to be disapointed that i didn't really minded the end result...but can't say i really enjoyed it either and i don't think i will ever watch it again.

I wanted to see this one in theatre but some reasons was not able. Noticed it was released on Prime included in my subscription so lets go ... time to watch it.

Overall the premise is cool. The concept of the "North Pole" being basically a Wakanda of some sort and even tough they don't go too deep into Santa Claus origins or the many denizens of the Pole, you get enough to understand how it run in this world and such.

The movie also expend on the mythical world briefly letting the door open to a sequel that wouldn't need to be set during Christmas.

Where the movie didn't reach its full potential for me was that despite all the cool tech (like special glove making toys grow like in Ant-Man), it felt as they only scratched the surface and the movie was missing some comedy/laugh.

I just wished overall the adventure would had been "bigger" if it mean any sense, and didn't refrain from expending this world.

That said, i do feel its a movie that kids will enjoy a lot. I wish when i was one myself i had this kind of movie with lots of CGI and action. I can praise the idea behind it and having it work despite a concept that is on paper "quite absurd". I mean the whole Santa Claus tour and all.

One little note that only affect Quebecers like myself. Weirdly the trailer had Dwayne Johnson usual dubbing actor but for some unknown reasons, the movie itself didn't. The person dubbing Dwayne really didn't matched well with the type of voice he has or the one he is usually dubbed by, and it kinda threw me out of the movie a bit. I have no idea why it was done this way. And yes i made sure i was on Canada French and not France, as Amazon Prime has both for their movies.

I saw this movie in theatre when it released and i may have watched it again once but i can't remember. I finally got it on bluray lately along a lot of other movies so i watched it again and honestly it still feel as good as back then, but with the same smaller flaws.

First of all i enjoy Tom Holland. I know not everyone does, but for me he work very well for Spider-Man. A lot more than Nathan Drake but thats a story for another time.

Michael Keaton as The Vulture is a very good vilain. You understand why he does what he does. He can be somewhat ruthless but at the same time, he ain't full on evil. I also like the suit and the mechanical wings, it work very well. It was not a vilain i was familiar with before this movie, and from my understanding he was kinda silly in the comic book, but in this, he was great. The charisma of Michael Keaton obviously play its part.

I also liked the AI costume. The MCU by that point was too advanced, especially since this version of the vilain use a lot of technology. It brough good comedy and cool sequences.

Now here is the "flaws" i want to talk about. Im aware i may get some tomatoes thrown at me for this, but i don't care. Im honest and thats it. You can already feel even in 2017 that this whole "forced diversity" of the MCU/Disney was in full force.

Flash Thompson was extremely miscasted. He is supose to be a bigger jock bully, now he is a small indian guy in the quiz team? Peter best friend is played by an Asian, his love interest is mulatto, and finally MJ also being black... It kinda felt like white dudes were a minority in this school...

Now "MJ" well, sure she is not "Mary-Jane Watson" in theory but after 3 movies we know a lot more about her and her role for Peter and i just wish the character would had been named completely different. Its like they wanted to change the story but also remind us of the past. Its a bit weird.

That said this is minor flaws for me and it does not detract too much for the overall great experience of the movie.