Francis Ford Coppola, the director of cinematic classics like “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now” and “The Outsiders” has returned with a new project that really proves that, if you cook something for 40 years, it becomes indigestible.
Set in a modern day United States, the film follows the conflict between visionary architect Cesar Catalina, played by Adam Driver, and corrupt Mayor Frank Cicero, played by Giancarlo Esposito. Meanwhile, torn between the two is socialite Julia Cicero, played by Nathalie Emmanuel, the mayor’s daughter, as she discovers what she truly believes humanity deserves as her love divides her loyalties.
Giancarlo Esposito in "Megalopolis." Photo courtesy of Lionsgate
This plot synopsis is both the vaguest and yet simplest way to describe this film due to the fact that the amount of things that happen in it are quite monumental.
The film is filled with so many other characters and subplots that, by the time a new plot point is introduced and a character is reintroduced, you sometimes forget that a character was even in the film to begin with.
Certain characters played by Jason Schwartzman and Dustin Hoffman show up less like fleshed out characters and more like cameos to a point where you begin to wonder why they are even in this. If their characters were not played by Hoffman or Schwartzman they wouldn’t have even been of much significance. The main thing that absolutely obliterates this film is not only the script written by Coppola, but also the editing by Cam McLauchlin and Glen Scantlebury.
Adam Driver in "Megalopolis." Photo courtesy of Lionsgate
Not only is the dialogue absolutely nonsensical and terrible to the point it becomes laughable, but the editing is so horrendously constructed and horribly paced that it would make the style of film by Baz Luhrmann (who worked on films such as “Elvis” and “The Great Gatsby”) seem straightforward. There are scenes that feel less like pure transitions and more like cutaways ripped directly out of “Family Guy.”
On top of the shoddy editing, the visual effects range from looking decent at best to quite ugly. Many such scenes of the actors looking over the cities feel less like watching a 120 million dollar film and more like watching a scene from the worst “Spy Kids“ film.
The acting also leaves much to be desired as everyone in the cast, despite their best efforts trying to make this material work, unfortunately falls flat.
Both Esposito and Driver, despite desperate attempts, fail to create believable characters as Esposito continues to play into the continuous typecast, even with him clearly giving the best performance, all while Driver gives an awkward and restrained performance whose accent transitions from being British to American, and sometimes trans-Atlantic.
Aubrey Plaza in "Megalopolis." Photo courtesy of Lionsgate
Emmanuel’s performance also leaves much to be desired. Despite her being the character caught in the center of the conflict of the film, her role seems to be sidelined into just becoming the new love interest with no real personality.
On top of that, other actors in the film like Aubrey Plaza, Jon Voight and Shia Lebouf give absolutely bonkers performances that sometimes feel phoned in, yet somehow still like the actors were drunk throughout the duration of the shooting. Certain scenes were so horrendous, it caused the audience to erupt with laughter and disbelief.
After coming out of the theater, the film left me feeling bemused yet also hollow. This film is awful in so many ways, but strangely I am glad it exists.
In a year where intellectual property reigns supreme, this, in its own unique way, is something I’ve never seen before.
There will be a thousand “Madame Webs” or a thousand “Argylles.” However, there is only one Megalopolis and Coppola swung for the fences even after he struck out. So, in a strange way, I somewhat respect it. At the same time this film is not original, as its sequences and plot is taken from many other (better) films, with this one doing it so, so badly.
"Megalopolis" is the passion project of one Francis Ford Coppola. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate
While this film is terrible and will probably be on the list of worst films of the year, one could say that it’s not one of the worst of all time nor even one that is so bad that it’s good the whole way through. It’s simply a film that has unintentionally funny moments, yet through and through is just a boring, confusing and pretentious mess.
