It could’ve been, but too much time was spent on the singing and not enough time was spent on a coherent exploration of Arthur.

Apparently, people walked away from the first movie thinking Arthur was the Clown Prince of Crime. How they walked away thinking that, I have no idea. At almost every step of the way Arthur was reactionary. Even as Joker. But there was never a moment where who he really was wasn’t there. When he was being pursued at the end of the movie, he was afraid. He was Arthur. It wasn’t until he was in the middle of the crowd and saw their love of Joker, that he put the mask back on.

This movie was at its best when it explored that. And every time it really got in a groove of doing it, another musical number pulled you out of it. And maybe it was done to yank you away from that fact, because it was ultimately the climax. But for that to really pay off, you would’ve had to not realize Joker is just Arthur. Which apparently half of the people that saw the first movie didn’t, but for those of us that did, it just felt like 2 hours of stop and go.

It felt like Todd Phillips was too focused on forcing half of the audience to slowly realize, that they misinterpreted his character- at the expense of the enjoyment of the half that didn’t. I don’t hate the movie, but didn’t particularly enjoy it either. Maybe I’ll enjoy it more on a second watch, but it’ll be a long while before I’ll want to see it again.