For “Joker: Folie à Deux,” let’s put on a happy face, at least at the beginning.

If there’s one undeniably compelling thing about Todd Phillips’ controversial 2019 original and its new sequel, it’s that these films are at their best when they’re dancing. The first film may have been a convoluted attempt at adapting ‘Taxi Driver’-style ’70s realism into a Joker origin story, but man, when Joaquin Phoenix is ​​on his toes, it’s hard to look away.

Just the image of a gaunt Phoenix in a red suit with slicked-back, green-streaked hair was enough to give “Joker” a kick. The role gave Phoenix, a muscular actor, a canvas on which to unleash torrents of moves that vacillated between wounded restraint and flamboyant release, in a comic genre that typically leaves performers paralyzed by spandex.

He’s almost as compelling in “Joker: Folie à Deux,” a musical that closely follows the events of the first film, which features an imprisoned Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) for the murders committed at the climax of “Joker.” , will be brought to trial. Even the way Phoenix smokes theatrically as Arthur – which he does quite a bit in “Folie à Deux” – shows how much he revels in the character’s lithe physicality.

But in “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which hits theaters Thursday, all forward momentum is gone. Phillips followed up his very anti-heroic version of the Joker with a very anti-heroic sequel. It combines prison drama, courtroom thriller and musical and yet proves remarkably sluggish considering how combustible the original was. If “Joker” – which some have claimed sympathizes with the kind of lone gunmen who populate our real world – sparked debate, “Folie à Deux” is a confident rejoinder to all that discussion and spends much of its time with questioning Arthur’s actions since the last film.

That makes it a theoretically interesting but strangely dull film, especially given that Phoenix stars two incredibly watchable actresses, and Lady Gaga, who plays a fellow inmate, Lee Quinzel, who is infatuated with the Joker . Phillips deserves credit for subverting expectations. Most directors would release Arthur for a sequel full of violence and mayhem, not Burt Bacharach song and dance sequences. But as laudable as “Folie à Deux”’s intentions may be, it feels thoughtful but tiresomely stuck in the past.

“Do you have to be kidding us today?” asks an Arkham State Hospital guard (Brendan Gleeson, back in a prison post – “Paddington 2”) as they drag Arthur from his cell. He seems even thinner now, his shoulder blades sticking out. A pale look also shows that he’s not kidding, as he’s clearly fallen back into the depression that Arthur previously sank into.

This interaction and others that follow continue some of the themes of Joker, in which Arthur and the mania he inspires are presented as a distorted product of a cruel urban world and a failed social safety net. Now Arthur faces either the death penalty or life imprisonment. The only question is whether his lawyer (Catherine Keener) can convince a jury that he suffers from split personality syndrome.

We are again asked to think and consider how Arthur is treated by those around him, including the guards who alternately taunt him, ask him for an autograph, or show him a little compassion. Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) believes he should die for killing five people, including late-night talk show host Murray Franklin, who was live on air. Does Arthur deserve our sympathy? “Folie à Deux” is a bit like the “Seinfeld” finale: a moral reckoning in the courtroom.

The crowd outside the courthouse screams not for Arthur, but for the Joker, whom they see as an anarchist martyr. They crave entertainment and Arthur, or the Joker, is tempted to provide it. A psychology expert claims Arthur’s mental illness is “just an act.” In many ways – including a recreated Looney Tunes cartoon that opens the film – “Folie à Deux” continues the first film’s interest in contemplating and satirizing what we crave in entertainment. Do we want the “real” story of Arthur or the fantasy of the Joker?

However, I’m not sure whether “Folie à Deux” always meets the audience’s wishes. What I wanted most about Folie à Deux was that it would stop playing with the concepts of its characters and instead let them breathe a little more on their own. It’s no surprise that the film works best when Arthur and Lee get involved with each other. This is Arthur’s first blush at the love he’s been missing (“She’s getting me,” he says), but their connection could also have more to do with fantasy. Their time together is actually somewhat limited, but in Arthur’s imagination their feelings emerge in songs, mostly old standards (“Get Happy,” “For Once in My Life,” “That’s Life”) in which they sing tenderly together.

These musical interludes break away from an otherwise fairly bleak and drawn-out narrative, as a legal and penal system that doesn’t know how to deal with Arthur’s pain – or that he is a reflection of their failure – helps turn him back into the Joker to transform. Once the Joker fully emerges, Phoenix’s Fleck is visibly horrified at what he has done.

All of this wrestling with “The Joker” makes “Folie à Deux” an impressively non-superhero movie-like film and a conscious rejection of audience expectations. But it also turns the wheels. It is not surprising that Folie à Deux was originally conceived as a stage show. It stays put and all you can do is marvel at Phoenix’s jaw-dropping contortions.

“Joker: Folie à Deux,” a Warner Bros. release, was rated R by the Motion Picture Association for some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality and brief full nudity. Running time: 139 minutes. Two stars out of four.