Directed by: David O. Russell
Starring: Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Robert De Niro, Michael Shannon, Taylor Swift, Mike Myers, Andrea Risborough, Rami Malek, Anya Taylor-Joy, Alessandro Nivola, Matthias Schoenaerts, Chris Rock
Amsterdam's cast is top-heavy with A-List and award-winning talent stuck in a story which doesn't deserve their talents. The actors are to be credited for their efforts to make Amsterdam palatable, but they wind up just behaving bizarrely. David O. Russell has, of course, made some great movies in the past with large casts, but the stories behind The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, and Joy were compelling. Amsterdam begins as a murder mystery which veers into different waters when it introduces a conspiracy (based on fact...maybe) which resonates with today's political climate. Russell himself introduces Amsterdam with the disclaimer: "Some of this actually happened", similar to American Hustle, a movie no one would confuse Amsterdam with.
Christian Bale stars as Dr. Burt Berendsen, who as the story opens in 1930's New York City works with wounded and maimed World War I veterans, mostly dispensing illegal drugs to ease their suffering. Dr. Burt (a veteran himself) has a glass eye (which frequently pops out as a running gag), scars all over his body, and faints whenever administering new, homemade drugs on himself. He is best friends since the war with attorney Harold Woodman (Washington), with whom he served. Both were seriously wounded in battle and treated by Valerie Voze (Robbie) in Belgium. The three form a friendship and move to Amsterdam following the war to live a bohemian lifestyle. There is no menage-a-trois, however, as Harold and Valerie fall in love and Dr. Burt (a married man) longs to return to his wife in New York even though her family has disowned him.
Fast forward to the 1930's, as Burt and Harold are called in by the daughter of their commanding officer to investigate his suspicious death aboard a ship. They discover he was poisoned, but soon are suspects in the death of the daughter and on the run. They find themselves enveloped in a darker plot involving assassinating President Franklin D. Roosevelt and installing a military leader to run the country. This is based in part on truth and links to January 6 are entirely intentional, but Amsterdam is paced oddly and erratically, with the actors trying to keep up in drawn-out scenes which we grow tired of quickly. Entire monologues are dedicated to keeping us (and the other characters) up to date on what's happening, which slows things down even further.
There are other characters involved in this messy film, all of which tie into the plot at different angles. I'm generally suspicious of the quality of a movie needing this many top-notch actors to star in it. With Amsterdam, I know why.
No comments:
Post a Comment