Megalopolis Review

Francis Ford Coppola's newest film Megalopolis has taken the internet by storm in many different ways. Whether it's from the controversy of the director's behavior on set or the absurdity of the film that has gone viral, I think everyone has heard of one of the biggest flops of 2024. I was able to catch the film last night and... I had some thoughts.

My Ratings:

Plot 1/10

Acting 3/10

Directing 1/10

Writing 1/10

Cinematography 2/10

Soundtrack 4/10

Wig, Makeup, & Costumes 3/10

Lighting 3/10

Color 3/10

Emotional Impact 0/10

Overall: 21/100

It's safe to say... I'm not a fan. I wish I could describe the plot, but I genuinely do not have the ability. The film is incoherent, unspecific, and a complete mess. There's moments of a love story, political commentary, and building an empire, but none of it meshes together or makes any sense. The actors are trying to make something work, but this is really a group of good actors giving their worst performances. Adam Driver is incapable of caring so he's trying but to no avail. Aubrey Plaza might be the best performance from the film but in no way can it save what's happening on screen. Laurence Fishburne is wasted. Giancarlo Esposito received the worst material by far and just could not make it work. And Nathalie Emmanuel gives one of the worst performances in a major film that I have seen in a long time. It is just really, REALLY bad. I haven't seen her in anything else, but after this I don't want to. The script is awful, masturbatory, and pretentious. The movie looks like Spy Kids 3 in a way that isn't endearing the way Spy Kids 3 is. The music isn't half bad but it's washed out by the horrible things happening on screen. Character Design is a little basic. The lighting doesn't affect anything very much. The color is as bad as people were pretending the first Dune movie was (which had great coloring and I will die on this hill). And there is no possible way, shape or form for this film to have any effect on the audience. I'm mad just typing this. A waste of 2.5 hours. I'll admit, it gave some pretty good laughs here and there from how absurd and bad it was, but it wasn't worth a trip to the theatre. It's not something people need to see and it's definitely not something people need to be pretending is good. It's bad. There's not deeper meaning or genius. It was made by a senile old man who has a lot of money. It's bad. I saw someone say it has the same vibe as Annette (2021) and that made me REALLY upset because Annette is a movie with a clear style, choices, story, and message. These films could not be more different from each other. Annette is specific and adventurous, Megalopolis is pretentious and meaningless. End of story.

Thanks for Sitting on the Sidelines!

-Zeke