MEGALOPOLIS (2024)
Starring Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D. B. Sweeney, Isabelle Kusman, Bailey Ives, Madeleine Gardella, Balthazar Getty, Romy Mars and Haley Sims.
Screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Distributed by Lionsgate. 138 minutes. Rated R.
Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project has been about 40 years in the making. Despite the fact that the guy has helmed some of the great films of all time – The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, Peggy Sue Got Married, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, etc. – no studio had been willing to put their support (and their money) behind Megalopolis.
Therefore, the filmmaker decided to make it himself, spending over $100 million of his own money so that he could have complete control of the film. And this is after he nearly destroyed his entire career and trashed his studio 42 years ago by sinking all of his money into the historic bomb One From the Heart and he swore he would never, ever do that again. In fairness, I always have kind of liked One From the Heart and it has gotten a better reputation over time. Also, Coppola has been mostly financing his films in recent years through sales from his popular vineyard, in fact he sold the vineyard to get the money to make Megalopolis.
He even uses the idea as the tag line for the movie poster: “If you can’t see a better future, build one.”
So, here is Coppola’s mega-opus – and quite probably his last film. Coppola decided to pull out all of the stops, and damned if he hasn’t. This film is completely Coppola’s baby, and he has complete control, for better or worse. He spent a ton of money and a ton of time on it, and he was going to make it his way. On the plus side, Megalopolis looks stunning. It is full of fascinating sets, props, effects and massive, epic scenes.
Too bad that the storyline makes little to no sense, that dialogue is stilted and hackneyed and some very talented actors make some very questionable acting choices. (I assume that they were directed that way by the auteur, but it doesn’t make it any less jarring to watch.)
Megalopolis is supposed to be – I think – Coppola’s expose of corporate greed and politics and his wish for a purer, more artistic and loving world. And those things are definitely there, front and center, but they are at service of such a complicated and honestly kind of ridiculous story that they become melodramatic and cartoonish.
The Megalopolis of the title is New Rome, which is basically supposed to be a magic version of modern New York in an odd alternative timeline where the old Roman Empire never fell.
The film basically revolves around three families (although it has a cast of dozens) who are fighting for control of New Rome.
The hero – or as close as this film comes to a hero – is Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver), a city planner who is trying to use magic to create his own Utopia. He can stop time and create things through pure will because… well I don’t know how, he just can. It’s not like Coppola has to come up with some kind of an explanation for his hero’s superpowers (although, yeah, really, he should).
Because Cesar is pushing for pure change and beauty, he runs afoul of the slightly corrupt Mayor Franklyn Cicero of New Rome (Giancarlo Esposito), who doesn’t like the man’s fresh idealism, or the fact that he is sleeping with the Mayor’s daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel).
And finally there is commerce, with elderly banker Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight), his scheming wife Wow Platinum (played by Aubrey Plaza, and yes, that really is the character name) and his trans, rabble-rousing wannabe street politician grandson Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf) trying to exert their will on the city.
Clodio and Cesar are also cousins, and Wow was Cesar’s former mistress, just to show how incestuous this all gets. (I won’t even get into Clodio and Wow’s affair… oh, wait, I guess I just did.)
All of this leads to some highly over the top melodrama over the fight for the city, with some spectacular brawl scenes and some truly insane (in a good and bad way) world building. And then, for no particular reason, a character will recite a whole Shakespearean soliloquy, just because they can.
Well, Megalopolis is finally here, and good for Coppola for getting it made after all these years. And good for him for not leaving a thing that he wanted to try undone, this truly, for better or worse, is a magnum opus. But I’m afraid Francis Ford Coppola is in for another critical and financial drubbing. I have to hope that this is not the film that this great director goes out on. However, if he does, then he goes out on his own terms.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: September 26, 2024.
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