Megalopolis Movie Review
Nathan Swank
September 27th, 2024
Written and directed by the great Francis Ford Coppola, MEGALOPOLIS can be described as…Ambitious. From the director of THE GODFATHER, THE GODFATHER PART II, and APOCALYPSE NOW, it’s hard to criticize such a prolific artist of some of the greatest films of all time. MEGALOPOLIS is another passion project that has been in the works for decades. And while MEGALOPOLIS is visually stunning, artistic, and cinematic, the film, to put it bluntly, doesn’t work.
Let me first set the stage for my screening. Set simultaneously across roughly 60 screens throughout the United States and Canada, the screening began with a live interview with Francis Ford Coppola himself alongside actor Robert De Niro and writer/director Spike Lee. An odd choice being that, to my knowledge, neither person next to Coppola had anything to do with the film. Nonetheless, the questions simply were about how they all met. Then Coppola immediately defended the film that has yet to be seen, stating that audiences and critics were not originally on board with APOCALYPSE NOW either. He also pointed out that he made sure to cast actors with different political views or who have been canceled to prove that we can all work together for a common goal. The whole thing was humorously strange and unnecessary, setting the stage for a movie that has already been difficult to know as little as possible about.
MEGALOPOLIS is a futuristic historical telling of the city of New Rome. Adam Driver plays Cesar Catilina, a visionary architect of an utopian future who has the ability to freeze time momentarily. Giancarlo Esposito plays Franklyn Cicero, a greedy mayor who is skeptical of progress and opposes Cesar’s vision. Nathalie Emmanuel plays Julia Cicero, daughter of the mayor, stuck between her support for her father and love and belief in Cesar. Rounding out the supporting players are Aubrey Plaza as a power hungry reporter, Jon Voight as a big money backer, and Shia LaBeouf a jealous relative who will achieve political gain by any means necessary.
I appreciate artists like Coppola who are willing to bet on themselves and stake a lot (and I mean A LOT) of personal money into their work. However, it doesn’t always payoff. As I said, the film has some visually stunning moments, particularly the tired and falling moving statues of justice and hope in the alleyways of the city. But much of the dialogue is tedious and repetitive when the visuals tell a better story when bridging to our current political climate. I wanted so much to like MEGALOPOLIS, but it fails to have any meaningful connection with the audience. I could sensationalize my statement and say MEGALOPOLIS is an incoherent mess. While that may not entirely be accurate, the film definitely is not organized coherency. With that said, I applaud Coppola’s ambition and encourage artists to try even when they fail.
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