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.
'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 One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975), but not too far off.'
Joker: Folie À Deux - What the critics said
The Independent
'Today Joker is best remembered as one of the most subversive and original films of the last decade, while its hugely anticipated sequel is just as bleak and formally daring as its predecessor' - says Geoffrey Macnab
Rating:
Daily Mail
'This film is audaciously different in style from the original, not as electrifying, but bold and brilliant all the same.
'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' - says Brian Viner
Rating:
The Irish Times
Credit where credit is due. Todd Phillips has followed up Joker, a film that made $1 billion and won two, with a work of unexpected eccentricity.
'He could easily have satisfied the studio accountants by pushing his anti-hero deeper into comic-book territory.
'Instead he has put together a musical that ends up disavowing unlovely beliefs held by the first film’s less stable fans' - says Donald Clarke
Rating:
The Financial Times
'Five years after the wildly popular Joker made a hoofer out of Joaquin Phoenix, the sequel is now here to keep everyone dancing. Singing too.
'In the wake of that phenomenal success, it became apparent that the follow-up would be, of all things, a musical. Lady Gaga was to co-star.
'And while Gaga works hard enough to bump up the star rating alone, the thinness of her role makes Phillips seem like the dog that caught the car. He wanted her in the movie, without a clue what to do next' - says Danny Leigh
Rating:
The Guardian
'There’s a great supporting cast and a barnstorming first act but Todd Phillips’s much-hyped Gotham sequel proves claustrophobic and repetitive' - says Peter Bradshaw
Rating:
The Times
'The director Todd Phillips said there would be no follow-up to the original, but he changed his mind and the result is a derivative musical'
'This might be the most disappointing follow-up to an Oscar-winning performance since Anthony Hopkins reworked his silky and terrifying Dr Lecter from for the campy, kitschy' - says Kevin Maher
Rating:
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The Independent's Geoffrey Macnab said: 'Today Joker is best remembered as one of the most subversive and original films of the last decade, while its hugely anticipated sequel is just as bleak and formally daring as its predecessor'.
Meanwhile, the Irish Times' Donald Clarke gave the movie just two stars but credited Phillips' work for making a sequel following the first movie's $1billion success.
He said: 'Credit where credit is due. Todd Phillips has followed up Joker, a film that made $1 billion and won two, with a work of unexpected eccentricity.
'He could easily have satisfied the studio accountants by pushing his anti-hero deeper into comic-book territory.
'Instead he has put together a musical that ends up disavowing unlovely beliefs held by the first film’s less stable fans'.
Financial Times critic Danny Leigh said although Gaga worked hard to bump the ratings up in the sequel, Phillips appeared to have no idea what to do with her.
He wrote: 'Five years after the wildly popular Joker made a hoofer out of Joaquin Phoenix, the sequel is now here to keep everyone dancing. Singing too.
'In the wake of that phenomenal success, it became apparent that the follow-up would be, of all things, a musical. Lady Gaga was to co-star.
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
Joaquin Phoenix reprises his role as the Joker, with Lady Gaga joining the cast as his love interest, Harley Quinn
Joaquin Phoenix in Joker: Folie a Deux - an American musical psychological thriller film directed by Todd Phillips
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, writes Brian Viner
'And while Gaga works hard enough to bump up the star rating alone, the thinness of her role makes Phillips seem like the dog that caught the car. He wanted her in the movie, without a clue what to do next'.
Giving a three star rating, The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw claimed the movie proves 'claustrophobic' and 'repetitive'.
The Times' Kevin Maher wrote: 'The director Todd Phillips said there would be no follow-up to the original, but he changed his mind and the result is a derivative musical'
'This might be the most disappointing follow-up to an Oscar-winning performance since Anthony Hopkins reworked his silky and terrifying Dr Lecter from for the campy, kitschy'.
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