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It is safe to say that Joker 2, AKA Joker: Folie a Deux, has not had the reception that many were expecting from the sequel.

The hotly anticipated film hit theatres on Friday and is already underwhelming at the box office, with ‘mass walkouts’ reported across the board.

The first film, starring Joaquin Phoenix, was a huge success, picking up critical plaudits and multiple Oscars on its way to making $1 billion. The second, featuring Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, has fallen flat, however, and it seems to be because fans didn’t fully realise the true nature of the sequel: that it’s a musical.

Though initial reviews coming out of the Venice Film Festival were mixed but positive, the film’s release has been plagued with bad reviews from critics and fans alike. In extreme cases, some fans have even walked out of the cinema in disgust.

I thought Joker 2 was terrific, but quite a percentage of the audience tonight didn’t. Every time there was another song, more people walked out. Not sure how they somehow missed the news that this was a musical. pic.twitter.com/ltXl5Tn02o

— Dr Retro (@retroramblings) October 4, 2024

Another reviewer was way harsher, saying that when they went to the screening, everyone was leaving; “Like everyone is leaving early, it can’t be that bad, right?” the TikTok user said in a video on Sunday.

Later in the clip, he rated the movie, telling followers, “That s–t was garbage. Don’t waste your time. What the f–k? Two hours I am never going to get back. Don’t f–king waste your time.”

Another TikToker, Kate, captioned her video “JOKER2 review … so so disappointing ” before describing what went wrong.

“Don’t waste your money on going to the ‘Joker,’” she began. “I am so disappointed.”

Her boyfriend chimed in: “If you’re expecting to go see the ‘Joker’ and see some action, you will not see any. It is basically a musical. It’s like watching ‘Matilda’ or some s–t.”

Whilst it was announced by Variety in March of this year that Joker 2 would be a jukebox musical, many paid for the movie tickets without knowing that.

Someone tweeted: “I been knew Joker 2 would be a musical. But they are petty for not promoting it as such. They knew that audience would be pissed & now they’re walking out of theatres. Lmao”.

True, the trailer doesn’t really give it away either:

Another fan posted on the subreddit r/moviecritic to say; “Never thought I would walk out Joker Folie A Deux – snoozefest.

“I think Phoenix and Gaga were brilliant. Loved the support role by Gleeson. Unfortunately I didn’t know it was a musical. I hate musicals with a passion. I did know there were a few songs because of Gaga, but didn’t know its a full blown musical with 30 ! songs. The movie is slow, nothing happens other than a fire, and the stuff in the courtroom is a snoozefest.”

Whilst there aren’t actually 30 songs – even if it felt that way – this was a widely held viewpoint.

Then again, there are those who thoroughly enjoyed the film for what it was.

“I really don’t think it was that bad,” one person said. “I know all you’ve seen for the past three days was hate for this movie, but it’s not that bad.”

Leading with the pros, they said, “Cinematography, this is a beautiful f–king movie. Go see it in IMAX. I don’t push seeing movies in IMAX a lot but this movie is f–king beautiful.

“Joaquin Phoenix. Again, an amazing performer as Joker. The same kind of mental, emotional battles he does in the first movie he does in this movie even better I say. I don’t understand people saying this is such a departure from the first ‘Joker,’” continued the fan.

“Yes. This movie is a musical. To the definition of a musical, this is a musical movie. This movie is just like the first one, except whenever he goes crazy, you see him envisioning a musical instead of it just all being in his head.”

Now that you know what you’re in for, perhaps it will be a more delightful watch.

[source:nypost]