The Weirdest Movie of 2024 - Megalopolis Review

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Before I saw this movie I had seen a video or promo about someone who had previewed it saying that it was unlike anything they had ever seen before and that it was the first of its kind. A movie that could never be replicated from the man behind iconic movies from the past. And with that statement, I can actually agree, but maybe not in the best way. Francis Ford Coppola wrote, produced, and directed this movie after taking quite long hiatus from the limelight. The genius mind behind The Godfather Part 1, 2, and 3, Apocalypse Now, Dracula and other movies. He finally has returned with a new epic movie, one of a modern age and a vibe that he’s never really tapped into.
Megalopis isn’t nearly as long as his other movies and follows Cesar Catalina, played by Adam Driver, a brilliant artist in favor of a utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero (play by Giencardo Esposito). Between them is Julia Cicero, and her loyalty is divided between her father and her beloved. This is a general synopsis of the movie but honestly, there is a lot going on in the plot and its pretty convoluted, but we’ll get to that a little later.
Let's talk about the casting first, boy oh boy is this a completely loaded cast. Everyone was brought out for this one Jon Voight, Shia LaBeouf, Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Dustin Hoffman, Nathalie Emmanuel and our 2 main rivals Driver and Espisoto. It’s absolutely star-studded cast, and a fable of this scale surely deserves a list like that right? I wish I could say they were used to full effect and that they were able to carry the script but unfortunately, I can’t say that’s the case.
Adam Driver and Giancarlo Esposito do their best to carry the script because that seemed to be the greatest enemy to the movie. A lot of the scenes feel extremely awkward and I swear to you some of the scenes in the movie feel like bloopers between the cast. It feels odd, that’s the best way I can describe it. And because of that fact, a lot of the performances are hidden by the weird dialogue and visuals of the movie. But with that being said everyone is decent in it as much as you can be. A few highlights are Aubrey Plaza, which I was pleasantly surprised to see, I thought she held it down well along with our leads, especially with her comedic background. Nathalie Emmanuel was also good as the partner to Adam Driver, they had good chemistry and she was pretty good - even if her character was a little flat.
Going back to our main leads. Adam Driver, I think is a great actor and in this role he brings a good camera presence as a mastermind, philosopher type. He has good chemistry with the other actors, on the other side of the coin, Giancarlo Esposito also holds it down, as he does in most things he’s in too. They are good when playing off each other. But unfortunately, because of the movies need and want to be at a massive scale, a lot of characters aren’t really fleshed out because of how much they are crammed in here. It felt like they started with the seed of an idea then added another piece to it then another then decided to scrap one then add another before realizing you do have to go back and finish off the story. It felt a big messy and it just made it a bit confusing. If they had just gotten rid of the fluff, this would’ve been a lot more impactful.
While we’re on the topic, let’s talk about the fluff. One of the major gripes I had with this movie was a good handful of scenes felt like they didn’t need to be in there at all. Typically, as a rule of thumb, everything on the screen should progress the story or the characters in one way or another. At least that’s how most of the great films do it. I was surprised to see the amount of fluff from the director who crafted one of the best most tightly made movies of all time The Godfather. There are scenes in here where the characters are just talking amongst each other and it feels like there’s no rhyme or reason to it. There will be scenes where we’ll briefly cut to 3 people talking before going to the next scene. These little fluff parts, even between the main characters, do nothing for the story or the actors that are playing them. It makes the pacing of the movie feel a bit confusing and nonsensical at times.
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