S.W.’s Scores
Continuity
-3
Entertainment
-2
Rewatchability
-4
CastJoaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz
StreamingMax
S.W.’s Verdict
Todd Phillips took a billion-dollar character study and turned it into a courtroom musical that nobody asked for. Joaquin Phoenix commits fully to a man who has stopped being interesting, while Lady Gaga is given musical numbers that drain whatever tension the first film built. The decision to make Arthur Fleck pathetic rather than dangerous is defensible in theory and unwatchable in practice. The audience that made the first Joker a phenomenon walked out of this one in real time. A sequel that actively dismantles its own predecessor.