MEGALOPOLIS:
LATEST FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA MOVIE BROKE ME!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: 😐 out of 4
LIONSGATE
Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel in Megalopolis
Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now, Bram Stoker’s Dracula) finally brings his long-awaited vanity project to the screen in the new epic sci-fi drama, Megalopolis. I won’t be discussing any controversial behind the scenes drama that went down during the making of this film, I’m here to discuss the movie and that is exactly what I am going to do.
The trailers caught my interest when I first saw them and while I’ve admired many of Coppola’s previous projects, I’ll admit not all of his films are perfect (He directed that awful Robin Williams comedy, Jack). But even when he fails, they’re usually very fascinating and unique failures.
Seems like that was going to be the case with Megalopolis after it received polarizing reactions at film festivals. The 2019 Joker was also very divisive when it came out and I ended up loving that movie so I was curious to see where I’d fall under with Megalopolis.
Yeah, this is less like Joker and more along the lines of Babylon or Beau is Afraid where it’s a movie where I don’t know what to make of it because of its bonkers execution. It’s one thing to actually sit down and watch it, but to discuss it afterwards is a different beast altogether, but I will (attempt to) do just that.
The film is set in an alternate reality American Republic and follows futuristic architect, Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver-Star Wars franchise, Marriage Story, Ferrari) (Who also has the ability to stop time, just roll with it!) who invented a revolutionary bio-adaptive building material known as Megalon which he believes can change the world. But Cesar’s opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito-Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian, MaXXXine) and people in power remain committed to a regressive status quo and don’t want things to change.
Meanwhile the mayor’s daughter, Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel-Maze Runner 2 and 3, Fast & Furiousfranchise, Arthur the King) falls in love with Cesar thus dividing her beliefs and forcing her to decide on what humanity truly deserves.
The film also stars Aubrey Plaza (Scott Pilgrim VS the World, Safety Not Guaranteed, My Old Ass) as Wow Platinum, Shia LaBeouf (Transformers 1-3, Fury, Honey Boy) as Clodio Pulcher, Jon Voight (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, National Treasure 1 and 2, Transformers) as Hamilton Crassus III, Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix 1-3, Contagion, John Wick 2-4) as Fundi Romaine, Jason Schwartzman (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Scott Pilgrim VS the World, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) as Jason Zanderz, Kathryn Hunter (Harry Potter franchise, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Andor) as Teresa Cicero, and Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate, Kramer VS Kramer, Kung Fu Panda franchise) as Nush Berman.
Overall, Megalopolis is undoubtedly one of Francis Ford Coppola’s most ambitious movies in a very long time and is impressive on a technical level (I saw it in IMAX which was really neat), but its scatterbrained plot and handling of its subject matter leaves a lot to be desired and will certainly not appeal to everyone. I’m torn on this movie because there are things I like about it like the production design, visual style, and some of the ideas it explores, but I was also frequently baffled by various scenes and many lines of dialogue to the point of laughter (And probably not intentional laughter).
It’s as if the script for a bad Shyamalan movie somehow landed in Coppola’s hands and he decided to use that as a template for his supposed magnum opus. The audience I was with laughed hard at some of these lines and I couldn’t believe this was from the same man who gave us two of the greatest films of all time.
I think I sort of understood Coppola’s intentions of making the movie as a cautionary tale of what can happen to a great empire or country due to violence, greed, and corruption. But the way these ideas are told and executed in the final product make it difficult to be fully engaged and captivated by its messages where all I saw were some good ideas stuck in a cluttered mess.
This is also an example of a film that prioritizes themes and messages over good character development despite the cast mostly giving decent performances. I could not give two shits about a single character in this movie because most of the supposed character development consists of talks of philosophy, destiny, and social commentary without really giving audiences reasons to like them or be invested in their stories, still this movie did give us Shia LaBeouf in drag and Jon Voight off his rocker (Even more so than he already is, hey-oh!).
The movie looks fantastic in terms of the production design, cinematography, and visuals and is definitely worth experiencing on the big screen (IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GETTING INTO!). Even though I wasn’t exactly compelled by the film, I was marveling at it from a visual perspective especially the scenes showcasing the futuristic megalopolis which are wildly imaginative and stunning to watch and this one sequence of a car driving in the rain with statues coming to life, I thought that was really cool.
Despite the questionable material, I thought most of the performances were solid with the cast clearly giving their all. Granted, nobody is a huge standout but this is more like a group of talented actors trying to make this baffling film work which I admire.
Megalopolis is definitely a low-point in Francis Ford Coppola’s filmography, but it is a fascinating blunder of a movie that almost reaches “So Bad It’s Good” territory. The polarizing reactions are very much warranted and I don’t see many casual moviegoers watching it and being captivated by it though it will certainly lead to interesting conversations afterwards.
This is a difficult movie to recommend because on one hand, the film itself looks spectacular on the big screen, but the overall execution is a giant mess. If you know what you’re getting into then go for it, but everyone else should approach this megalopolis with caution.
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