Joker: Folie à Deux 4K Ultra HD Review

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

2019’s Joker was a surprise hit. A dark, psychological drama meant as a standalone film away from the DCEU. It drew from obvious influences including Martin Scorsese’s films Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, and 1928’s The Man Who Laughs by Paul Leni. The film even netted a Best Actor Oscar win for actor Joaquin Phoenix. So, of course, with the massive success, all ideas of doing a “one and done” film went out the window. In comes the sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, and right from the beginning with the pretentious French title, this one felt like trouble.

Then it was announced that this film would have Harley Quinn. Yay! And she would be played by Lady Gaga? Uh, oh. Then came the final clue it was off the rails – Joker 2 would be a musical. That’s right, a musical. Why? The film actually starts off with promise, a clever Looney Tunes style animated sequence with our Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) Joker. Then it shifts to Fleck in Arkham State Hospital for his crimes from the first film. Presumably the revolution he started, the massive crowds, and all of that was quashed. Now he is just the same sad sack he was before, only, this is a boring, locked up Arthur Fleck. But, in this asylum, he meets Lee Quinn (Gaga). She’s been admitted to the less secure ward where they use music to help heal the people of their mental illnesses. Lee is obsessed with Fleck/Joker and as his trial begins, she starts to convince him to fire his lawyer and represent himself.

Imagine all of that but insert poorly sung musical performances that interrupt the flow of the story, with bad singing from Joaquin Phoenix and underwhelming vocal performances from Lady Gaga who is also not singing up to her potential. Perhaps if she did sing up to her potential, it would make Phoenix’s vocals sound even worse.

It isn’t all a disaster when it comes to this ill-advised sequel, however. The 200% increase in the budget is noticeable and the visuals are certainly gorgeous. The cinematography from Lawrence Sher is enticing and makes the film more bearable, especially, ironically, during the musical performance, that look great as far as the lighting and staging. But even the prison sequences look and feel more cinematic, almost like Hitchcockian camera movements. Still, the look and feel of the film isn’t enough to save what is mostly a disaster.

Purchase Joker: Folie à Deux 4K Ultra HD on Amazon.com

The Video

Joker: Folie à Deux comes to 4K Ultra HD in an HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision encodement with a variable aspect ratio, using the IMAX ratios seamlessly. We get the 1.43:1 (mostly the animated opening), 2.20:1, and 1.90:1 ratios. The 1.90:1 seems mainly deployed during the musical performances. The film was originally shot on various cameras including Arri, Red, and Sony in 6.5K and 4.5K resolutions, and uses a 4K digital intermediate.

The film begins (not counting the brilliantly vivid animated opening) in the same sort of color palette as the first Joker movie, grey, desaturated, almost monochromatic, but still looks fantastic. It does open up to warmer earth tones and eventually more vivid and vibrant primaries as the Lee and Joker come together and start performing musical numbers together. The Dolby Vision encodement lends an amazing amount of extended shadow nuance and specular highlight pop in dazzling moonlight, stage lights, and the gorgeous outfits of Lee in full “Harley Quinn” mode.

The Audio

Just like the picture quality for Joker: Folie à Deux, the audio is also fantastic and reference quality. The 4K Ultra HD disc gets a lossless Dolby Atmos mix. The mix is evenly balanced, with a lot of height awareness for the musical performances and score. There is a beefy low end and wide dynamic range, clear dialogue and spaciousness in the atmospherics. The din of the prison scenes is panned through the surrounds and front channels with some use of the heights, while the overheads come alive during the more active sequences and musical scenes.

The Supplements

Prepare to sit through several featurettes with the cast and crew completely deluding you and themselves that this is a great movie.

Bonus Features:

• Movies Anywhere Digital Code
• Everything Must Go (1080p; 00:44:05):
  • Can I Have a Cigarette (Part 1)
  • Finding Lee (Part 2)
  • A Hundred Films in One (Part 3)
  • King of Nothing (Part 4)
• The Character of Music (1080p; 00:08:20)
• Crafted with Class (1080p; 00:07:21)
• Colors of Madness (1080p; 00:06:22)
• Live! With the Joker (1080p; 00:05:16)

The Final Assessment

Joker: Folie à Deux is definitely the sequel we did not need, but Warner Bros still manages to put out a reference quality disc for this 4K Ultra HD release.

Joker: Folie à Deux is out on 4K Ultra HD + Digital December 17, 2024 from Warner Bros.

• Rating Certificate: R (for some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, and brief full nudity.)
• Studios & Distributors: Warner Bros. | Domain Entertainment | Bron Creative | Joint Effort | DC Entertainment | Quebec Film and Television Tax Credit
• Director: Todd Phillips
• Written By: Scott Silver | Todd Phillips | Bob Kane
• Run Time: 138 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.43:1/2.20:1/1.90:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: Dolby Vision (HDR10 Compatible)
• HDR10 Metadata:
  • MaxLL: 676 nits
  • MaxFALL: 87 nits
  • Max. Luminance: 1000 nits
  • Min. Luminance: 0.0001 nits
• Primary Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Compatible)
• Secondary Audio: English DD 5.1 | English Descriptive Audio (US) | English Descriptive Audio (UK) | French DD 5.1 | German Dolby Atmos | German DD 5.1 | German Descriptive Audio | Italian Dolby Atmos | Italian DD 5.1 | Spanish DD 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH | French | German SDH | Italian SDH | Spanish | Danish | Finnish | Norwegian | Swedish
• Street Date: 17 December 2024