Review | 'Amsterdam' is a chaotic fever dream
‘Amsterdam,' which was directed by David O. Russell, was released to theaters on Oct. 7. This film includes a star-studded cast but falls flat with a messy storyline. Photo collage by SIMRAH AHMAD, staff photographer
Ever wondered what would happen if Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, Robert De Niro and Taylor Swift walked into a bar?
While that sounds like the set up to a joke with a horrible punchline, it’s the reality in "Amsterdam," the newest film from David O. Russell.
The opening of the film states that "a lot of this actually happened," with the focus on three friends: Burt (Christian Bale), Harold (John David Washington) and Valerie (Margot Robbie).
The trio meets while serving in World War I, when Burt and Harold are wounded in battle and Valerie's keen nursing skills heal their injuries. Upon falling head-over-heels in love with Harold and helping Burt find a glass eye, Valerie transforms the group's lives by bringing them to refuge in Amsterdam.
The Netherlands capital serves as a metaphor throughout the film, reminiscing of a place where happiness and peace exudes everywhere and the stressors of life disappear.
But nearly a decade later back in New York City, Burt and Harold are asked by an important socialite (Taylor Swift) to help discover the cause of her father's death. At the same time, Burt and Harold are suspects for another murder — thus ensuing a murder-mystery to unveil the truth and prove their innocence.
The film is based on the Business Plot of 1933, a political conspiracy that aimed to overthrow the current president at the time, Franklin D. Roosevelt. This plan was set to be a veteran-led coup with wealthy businessmen at the forefront that encouraged a dictator to take Roosevelt's place.
Those in favor of this plan wanted the dictator to be retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler (who Robert De Niro's General Gil Dillenbaeck is based on). But, the iconic friend group of Burt, Harold and Valerie was completely made up by Russell — emphasizing that the story is "somewhat" true.
With Russell's previous work being "Silver Linings Playbook" and "American Hustle," the extraordinary cast list for this film is no surprise whatsoever. But, at times it can be overwhelming for the audience to witness such a highly concentrated amount of powerhouse performances in one movie. Sure, it is exciting to see Anya Taylor-Joy hold hands with Robert De Niro and Chris Rock just be Chris Rock in the 1930s — but in the end it just feels like a fancy way of playing "I spy" with famous people on the screen.
What starts off as a classic whodunnit turns into a confusing storyline where there is so much chaos going on it doesn't even feel like a movie anymore. At times it feels like all the characters are improvising and adding the most niche details that make the script that much more of a head-scratcher.
Whether it's singing in French or incorporating the most random spurts of gore and blood, the editing of "Amsterdam" could have been cut cleaner with all of these strange oddities.
In the middle of the film, Burt says, "This is so strange." That’s a perfect way to capture the film’s essence.
Despite the befuddling specifics involved, the highlight of "Amsterdam" most definitely is Bale's performance as Burt. With his quirky mannerisms, clunky walk, unstable glass eye and earnest heart, Bale proves once again his acting caliber is unlike many in the field. Plus, although his career centralizes on villain characters, his performance of thoughtful and compassionate Burt may stick out as one of his best roles in quite some time.
Audiences are also experiencing mixed reactions to the film, with it collapsing in its box office debut by only earning $6.5 million and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 33%. Many users on the app Letterboxd are also distressed by the film, with some stating it's "equivalent to sleepwalking for two hours" or characterizing it as "amsterdamned." This aligns with my experience, as only a handful of other people were in the substantial IMAX theater on opening weekend.
While it's not until the end that the audience is revealed to the themes of overthrowing the government and demonstrating the unfair privilege the rich obtain, each major takeaway appears to be half-baked. Due to the monopoly of well-known actors, the film is more like a glamorous flop instead of a total failure.
Overall, I went into this film expecting a cinematic masterpiece. Murder-mystery films have recently become a favorite genre of mine, with "Knives Out" being a constantly re-watched favorite — so you can imagine my excitement when a similar film is about to be released with such a stellar cast.
While I wasn't swept off my feet, I was certainly entertained and eager to find out the story's resolution. In other words, it could be described very simply as a "meh" film.
A major emphasis in the film is to choose love over anything else and use that as a mechanism to fight the bad and ugly in life. Well, love and a European country to start a new life. And if you leave that place, then you are screwed. That's "Amsterdam" for you — so confusing it makes less sense when you try to extrapolate it.
