When Joker was released five years ago, the discourse thundered. On one extreme it was a vapid Scorsese knock-off, on the other, a gritty and thoughtful masterpiece of the comic book genre.

A follow-up was inevitable. And here it is, Joker: Folie a Deux. Or Joker: The Musical, if you like. I’d say this one is unlikely to stir the audience up the same way. It’s a frustrating viewing experience. Sometimes brilliantly so, but more often punishing with its distended sequences of dread fizzling out to flat dreariness. Its musical sequences don’t sparkle as they should, and it seems to deliberately alienate and antagonise a large swath of viewers who are there to be delighted and scared by scenes of Jokerific mayhem.

What was good about the first movie is present and accounted for here. Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/Joker, unpredictable and electrifying as Joker, simple and pathetic as downtrodden Arthur Fleck, turns in an excellent performance. Lady Gaga is Harley “Lee” Quinnzel, a fellow patient at Arkham Asylum. Think the Harley Quinn you’re familiar with, but through a gauzy Tumblr-sleaze haze. In a reversal of the source material, she’s the twisted abuser because this version of Joker couldn’t manipulate his way out of a sodden paperbag. The grunge-y cinematography and set design are an absolute visual treat for anyone looking to take a tour of this apocalyptic Gotham City, all set to an appropriately menacing and eerie score by Hildur Guðnadóttir. And it’s a film that never allows you to sit comfortably with any one emotion for its entire run-time. By god if that isn’t a sensation that is unique to a mainstream blockbuster release.

However, its vestiges of brilliance never manage to gel into something greater than the sum of its parts. Sans a Martin Scorsese template, director Todd Phillips struggles to shape an absorbing narrative, with its simple, leisurely-paced plot flitting back and forth between rote prison drama and repetitive courtroom drama. And for all of its portent, Joker: Folie a Deux fails to fashion a devastating denouement out of all this exhausting Sturm un Drung.

3 Stars out of 5