Having heard that this sequel took a sharp turn away from the brilliant 2019 film, I decided to stay away from the cinema and wait until it was available to stream before watching it.

Now that I have seen ‘Joker II’, to say that it deviates from the winning formula of the first film is an understatement. It wasn’t the disaster that some are claiming it to be; the mood and style were still there, the song and dance routines gave the audience a clever insight into the mental state of the main characters, and it was well designed and directed.

However, this is not what the average fan wanted to see.

Without spoiling anything for those who still want to see this movie, all I will say is that for the first twenty minutes it looked like we were in for a film similar to the first one – but then the musical numbers kicked in. Quite simply, there were way too many!

There were good moments in the film that were more in line with the original ‘Joker’, but these were few and far between – with the standout for me being the courtroom scene between Arthur and Gary Puddles – and needless to say, all the performances in the movie were solid.

But the flaws easily outweighed the positives, and I was very disappointed in this movie.

I loved the first film and must have watched it four or five times – in fact, I could put it on right now and be glued to the screen from start to end. Watching the sequel had the opposite effect on me, and I could not digest it all in one sitting – it took me four sessions to complete over a couple of days. This is important to note, as one of the reasons why the first film did so well at the box office was through people returning to the cinema to watch it a second time.

For the record, I gave this film two stars (out of five) on Rotten Tomatoes.

All screenshots courtesy of Warner Bros