While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur Fleck not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that's always been inside him.
Joaquin Phoenix
Arthur Fleck
Lady Gaga
Lee Quinzel
Brendan Gleeson
Jackie Sullivan
Catherine Keener
Maryanne Stewart
Zazie Beetz
Sophie Dumond
Steve Coogan
Paddy Meyers
Harry Lawtey
Harvey Dent
Leigh Gill
Gary Puddles
Ken Leung
Dr. Victor Liu
Jacob Lofland
Ricky Meline
Bill Smitrovich
Judge Herman Rothwax
Sharon Washington
Debra Kane
Alfred Rubin Thompson
Ernie Bullock
Connor Storrie
Young Inmate
Gregg Daniel
Music Teacher
Mac Brandt
Arkham Guard
George Carroll
Arkham Guard
John Lacy
Arkham Guard
Tim Dillon
Arkham Guard
Wayne Dehart
E Ward Inmate
Troy Fromin
E Ward Inmate
Ajgie Kirkland
E Ward Inmate
Terrance T.P. Polite
E Ward Inmate
Jimmy Walker Jr.
E Ward Inmate
Toney Wilson
E Ward Inmate
June Carryl
Dr. Louise Beatty
Don McManus
Paddy Meyers' Producer
G.L. McQueary
Head Bailiff
Angela D. Watson
Jury Foreman
Murphy Guyer
White Chapel Minister
Carson Higgins
Junior Associate
Gattlin Griffith
Masked Joker Driver
Hudson Oz
Joker Doppelganger
Ray Lykins
Victim's Dad
Will Ropp
Joker Fan #1
Ashton Moio
Joker Fan #2
Emilio Rojas
Joker Fan #3
Joe Spinney
Police Escort
Richard Busser
Additional Guard
Brian Donahue
Additional Guard
Mike Houston
Additional Guard
Jess King
Additional Guard
Jimmy Smagula
Additional Guard
Stephen Stanton
Stan L. Brooks (voice)
Martin Kildare
News Anchor
Laurie Dawn
Reporter
Steven X. Greenfield
Reporter
Dominiqué Williams-Blair
Reporter
Barry Bonder
Reporter
Kaylah Sharve' Baker
Back-up Singer
Ashley Levin
Back-up Singer
Celeste Butler
Back-up Singer
Alex Wesley Smith
Music Room Pianist
Robert Loftus
Arkham Guard (uncredited)
Nick Cave
Joker / Shadow (voice) (uncredited)
Director, Original Film Writer, Writer
Todd Phillips
Characters
Bob Kane
Characters
Bruce Timm
Characters
Bill Finger
Characters
Paul Dini
Characters
Jerry Robinson
Original Film Writer, Writer
Scott Silver
October 5, 2024
6
I was going to go and see the first Joaquin Phoenix outing as the "Joker" (2019) to remind my self of who did what to whom, but I didn't have time. I think I am glad because I recall that being so very much better than this. Here, we pick up after "Fleck" (Phoenix) has been on his clown-faced slaughtering spree and is in prison supervised by prison officer "Jackie" (Brendan Gleeson). His lawyer "Maryanne" (Catherine Keener) is trying to have him declared competent to stand trial for his crimes so she can plead some sort of personality disorder defence - he's not "Fleck" when he's the "Joker" sort of thing. Thing is, he encounters "Lee" (Lady Gaga) at a prison sing-a-long and she manages to ingratiate herself with him and then to derail that plan ensuring the plot twists it's way into the courtroom where his conviction for multiple homicides quickly appears as inevitable as there being a song in the film. Now I did like the soundtrack, but by the way Todd Phillips has presented this, it might as well have been either Tony Bennett or Newley who took on the leading role as her part is largely a series of entertainingly photographed music videos with the thinnest slices of meat constituting a weak story in between. It's a love story, I suppose, but that wasn't really what I turned up to see. There's loads of excess, but no menace or jeopardy and the character's previous adeptness at treading the thin line between sanity and madness isn't really developed at all here. He comes across more as a pathetic, emaciated, prisoner whose flame has well and truly gone out. His legal antagonist (Harry Lawtey) looks about eleven years old but that doesn't really matter either as the judicial proceedings themselves offer us little by way of sustaining drama, even as we build to a denouement that offers the tiniest bit of hope then... It's a stunning piece of cinema, money has been spent and there's imagination a-plenty from the production's designers. It's just too much of a jigsaw of a film with too little plot serving as a vehicle for an album boxed-set that's doubtless ready to hit the shops.