It has been one of the most talked about films of 2024 for all the right and wrong reasons causing huge divide amongst audiences upon its release.
The film debuted to a 59 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes following its much anticipated premiere at the prestigious Venice Film Festival where it reportedly earned an 11-minute standing ovation.
The sequel to 2019’s two-time Oscar-winner Joker sees Joaquin Phoenix reprise his role as the Clown Prince of Crime, alongside new addition to the cast Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn.
The plot synopsis states that Joker: Folie à Deux finds “Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) institutionalised at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker”.
“While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that’s always been inside him,” it adds.
The film has since dropped to a 33 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes and has even caused reported mass walk outs, however, for a reason that is more the viewers’ fault than the film’s.
It turns out that, despite it being known for months, countless people were not aware that the film was in fact a musical.
This was highlighted by one user on X who said: “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.”
One user said about the finding out the film was a musical: “It’s a bunch of singing and dancing. No one would have gone to see it if they put the real title on there, ‘Joker 2 the Musical’. There is no plot about anything related to the comic books. Waste of my time and money. Hollywood really sucks making movies.”
Meanwhile one commenter said: “The trailer for Joker 2 is really a scam. There is nothing that shows that it is a musical.”
One Reddit user even explained how they “never thought” they would “walk out of Joker Folie à Deux”, but did not realise the film was a musical and explained their hate for musical films.
As a result of these mixed reviews, the movie opened to a box office income half of the first Joker film, although still hit number one spot over the weekend.
Well, if you weren’t already aware, yes, Joker 2 is a musical film, so bare that in mind if you can’t stand people breaking out into spontaneous song every five minutes.
Joker Folie à Deux is in cinemas now.
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