Joker is a gritty, dark tale of a mentally ill man, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), who is pushed to the edge of the abyss by society, and he chooses to take a leap. Joker 2 is a courtroom drama that literally relitigates the plot of the first film, with far less of Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn than you’d expect, and it’s also a musical. It is not a real musical, but a jukebox musical, which means there are no original songs, and it’s entirely 60s-70s tracks, so even in that aspect, the film doesn’t truly commit.