Movie review: ‘Megalopolis’ is a Megaflopolis

Lionsgate, the entertainment company responsible for distributing director Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed, $120 million passion project “Megalopolis,” faced intense online scrutiny when a trailer for the film was released in August.

According to a report dated August 22 article Variety’s controversial trailer was quickly removed after viewers noticed it contained negative, AI-generated reviews of Coppola’s previous films.

Lionsgate’s goal in doing this was to convince people to give the eccentric film a chance; Although he was dishonest, he noted that Coppola’s legendary films such as “The Godfather” or “Apocalypse Now” were criticized at the time of their release.

Fortunately for Lionsgate and Coppola, they won’t have to resort to ChatGPT to find negative reviews for “Megalopolis,” a midlife crisis of a movie that sounds like it was written while drunk in a dark lair of Ayahuasca.

There isn’t much of a plot in “Megalopolis.” Overall, it focuses on a modern-day retelling of Rome, set in a Greco-Roman futuristic New York City.

Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”) stars as pariah architect Cesar Catilina, who wants to rebuild Rome in his own image using an alien material he designed with mystical powers. Perhaps some of the lead used to sweeten wine in ancient Rome was also used in the drinks on the “Megalopolis” set; That certainly explained a lot.

The most tragic aspect of “Megalopolis” is not its dull commentary on the corruption of American values ​​or the fading glory days of cinema, but how such a talented cast and crew was wasted.

It’s hard not to sympathize with the film’s actresses, especially Aubrey Plaza (“Parks and Rec”) and Nathalie Emmanuel (“Game of Thrones”). If “Megalopolis” was the first time audiences met these immensely talented actors, they would think they were randomly selected from a queue of student actresses in a blind audition.

Like the film’s other poor performances, this is definitely not the actors’ fault, but the script’s fault.

For starters, there is absolutely no subtext in the dialogue. Characters blurt out descriptions of everything Coppola wants viewers to feel, or quote philosophers far smarter than the film’s writers in a desperate attempt to add a false sense of complexity to the nonsense unfolding on screen.

These technical issues pale in comparison to the story’s deeply misogynistic undertones that objectify and denigrate its female leads; This is a topic that requires a completely separate review to be discussed in its entirety.

The other disastrous component of “Megalopolis” lies in the persistent conceit that permeates its bloated 138-minute runtime.

In addition to self-financing the film (presumably because no sane studio executive would hear “Megalopolis” pitch and agree to throw $120 million at it), Coppola also gave the film five stars on Letterboxd.

The few who share Coppola’s distinctive rating praise the story as bold and unique; In fact, many films before “Megalopolis” (such as Richard Kelly’s 2006 film “Southland Tales”) introduce similar themes in much newer and daring ways; because they don’t have their own pockets and they don’t have a distinguished career to fall back on.

Of course, Coppola is a legendary director who deserves respect as a pioneer of the modern film industry. His individuality is clearly a trait he takes great pride in; Something that’s on display in Megalopolis in the form of Cesar, who acts as Coppola’s stand-in at times.

At one point in the movie, Cesar says: “If you act like a good person, the world won’t take you seriously.” Maybe “Megalopolis” should have pretended to be a little better, or at least tried to justify the millions of dollars spent on a visually pleasing but thoughtless work of art.

Ironically, the money used to create “Megalopolis” could have been spent solving the real problems it was trying to portray, especially poverty. Instead, the film comes across as disconnected from working-class struggles, trying and failing to find common ground with audiences.

No matter how much someone trying to convince himself of this lie tries to convince other moviegoers, “Megalopolis” is not a misunderstood, philosophical work of art. It’s a stain on the legacy of a film industry icon that, in its own twisted way, undeniably proves that dynasties eventually crumble over time.

Rating: 1/5