Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga make music

For a film that grossed over a billion dollars worldwide, Todd Phillips' dark supervillain origin story, jokercouldn't have been more polarizing. Supporters, including this critic, appreciated the film's gritty social realist spin and adventurous spirit in pursuing the Batman story while combining it with a morally corrupt view of today's America on the brink of anarchy, riven by class and wealth inequality. Critics criticized the incel portrayal of Arthur Fleck as a morally questionable, if not irresponsible, attempt to find sympathy for the kind of wounded masculinity that produces gun violence.

The 2019 film was a surprise winner of the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion, a prestigious award rarely given to a blockbuster of its kind from a major Hollywood studio. Not only did it gross a fortune, but it also won Oscars the following year for Joaquin Phoenix's alternately pitiful and disturbing lead performance and for Hildur Gudnadóttir's haunting score.

What worried me most in retrospect jokerThe political problem was that its grim nihilism lacked a standpoint coherent enough to make it truly radical or provocative.

Back to the Venice competition, Phillips' uneven sequel, Joker: Foil for Twowill likely be accepted or rejected for the same reasons. It reinforces key aspects of the earlier film's controversial character study by locking Phoenix's Arthur in prison or a courtroom for the entire duration, save for a brief glimpse of freedom near the end — and fantasy musical numbers that turn jazz, pop and show tune standards into a kind of interior monologues or physical expressions of the person Arthur believes himself to be.

By preventing the Joker from wreaking insane havoc on the streets of Gotham City, the film effectively neutralizes him. I don't want to give too much away, but even more than its predecessor, the sequel reduces the arch-villain to a hollowed-out product of childhood trauma and mental illness. That said, there's little we didn't learn from the last time. Even the dance routines are taken from joker.

The portrait doesn't bear much resemblance to the giggling criminal we've loved since César Romero first donned clown makeup and a purple suit in the cheesy 1960s TV series, and even further back when you trace him to his DC Comics debut in 1940.

The addition of Lady Gaga as Lee, the character who later becomes Harley Quinn, adds a dash of romance to give Arthur a boost that his projection of a relationship with his neighbor Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz) in joker ultimately didn't do it.

Beetz makes a brief appearance here when he is called as a witness for the prosecution brought by young Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey, HBO's industry) before his villainous alter ego Two-Face shows up. Also seen in the previous film and appearing on the witness stand are Arthur's social worker (Sharon Washington) and Gary (Leigh Gill), the only person who was nice to him in his job as a clown.

Lee is introduced as a patient at Arkham State Hospital, the mental institution where Arthur is a maximum security prisoner awaiting trial for the murder of five people, including one on live television. They hit it off in their first encounters and develop a deeper connection when Arthur is allowed to join the music therapy group where he sees Lee for the first time. She poses as a superfan, but is she trying to imitate or manipulate him?

Arthur's defense attorney, Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener), has a clear opinion on the matter. Sincere and caring, she claims that Arthur suffers from trauma-induced fragmentation and that his crimes are the result of another person inside him, the Joker, taking control. She wants to show people that he is human.

The required hearings and medical examinations are the reason for the years-long wait before Arthur's case can go to trial, during which time he has become even more emaciated. (The bones protruding from Phoenix's back when Arthur is first dragged from his cell in his underwear make the scene difficult to bear.)

Gaga is a captivating, dynamic presence who can tell the difference between affection and obsession, while endearingly bringing a dash of joy and hope to Arthur, who finds him singing “When You're Smiling” on the way to court. Her musical numbers, both duets and solos, have a vitality that the often grim film desperately needs.

Since Lee is not meant to be a polished singer, Gaga tones down her vocals to a raw, scratchy sound. But in the few scenes where her imagination lets her run wild, the film floats along with her. Since both the Joker and young Harley Quinn treat their criminal tendencies as a theatrical spectacle, the decision to conceive the sequel as a musical makes sense.

Highlights include a '60s-style TV variety show in which Arthur and Lee become a sort of sociopathic Sonny and Cher, singing “You Don't Know What It's Like” (better known as the Bee Gees' hit “To Love Somebody”). They move from a wedding fantasy to a nightclub gig, with Lee singing at the piano and Arthur doing a wild tap-dancing number to “Gonna Build a Mountain.” And an elegant rooftop dance that reimagines them as misfits Fred and Ginger in front of a giant moon is beautiful.

Production designer Mark Friedberg's imaginative sets, both in the gritty Arkham and the stylized fantasies, pleasingly liven up the visual canvas, and Arianne Phillips' vibrant costumes for the numbers are a delight. Gaga's fabulous ensemble of orange sequin halter top and clown pants, along with a spectacular '60s maxi wig, is a stunning look.

Some will complain that Gaga is woefully underused in the film. But as much as the film cries out for more extravagant numbers in which the singer and actress can shine, Lee has complete character development. More of her would probably have increased the risk of Slide for two into a Harley Quinn origin story.

Paradoxically, most of the numbers are monologues by Arthur, despite the co-lead role being played by a music superstar, suggesting that he has no connection to the reality of a trial in which the prosecution is seeking the death penalty.

Inspired by Lee's attentions, he launches into Stevie Wonder's “For Once in My Life,” a quiet, conversation-sung moment of rapture that segues into a jazzy, uptempo version with a big dance break. “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” is another moment of sweeping romance. His mental forays into courtroom singing range from the Shirley Bassey smash “The Joker” (of course) to the melancholy but hopeful Jacques Brel/Rod McKuen ballad “If You Go Away.” Phoenix handles the singing and dancing duties with verve and feeling.

Although the actor cannot achieve the astonishing transformative power of his work due to his familiarity, jokerhe draws a throughline from this film with another riveting performance, unsettling when Arthur roars with laughter at inappropriate times and poignant when he looks inward to question his identity. His fixation on his own fame is tinged with desperation, as when he begs Lee to give him an honest assessment of the TV movie based on his exploits that he was not allowed to see.

He has an explosive encounter with an unscrupulous interviewer (Steve Coogan) who provokes him into a hostile response, and develops a tense relationship with a prison guard (Brendan Gleeson, as always the boss) that turns ugly and violent more than once.

But for a film that lasts two and a half hours, film in pairs feels narratively a bit thin and at times boring. Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver in the first joker had the robust framework of not one but two Martin Scorsese films, Taxi driver And The King of Comedyto hang their story on and set their tone. This one is based more on imagination than on a solid story foundation. It evokes associations with everything from golden age film musicals to auteur experiments like One from the heartwithout establishing a workable model that provides much form or structure.

On a technical level, it's a big, powerful production. Cinematographer Lawrence Sher again delivers the grim, '70s-inspired textures of the economically depressed city along with the tough institutional look of Arkham, but manages to dispel the gloom in the music sequences with more of the garish kitsch that was confined to the set of the late-night network show in the first film. With Murray Franklin. And Gudnadóttir conjures up another meaningful score full of Sturm und Drang.

film in pairs will likely make a lot of money considering the built-in curiosity factor of a predecessor seen by millions, plus the added appeal of Gaga and the bold move of making it a musical. Opening with a mock Looney Tunes cartoon by Triplets of Belleville Animator Sylvain Chomet is another bold move.

Phillips and Silver deserve credit for going their own way with a canonical DC character, but it's hard to imagine that diehard fans of the Batman universe could be excited by a film that — okay, this is definitely a spoiler — seems to wipe out the entire future of one of the most important arch-enemies in comic book mythology, leaving him a sad, broken man.