Megalopolis - Review Thread

Francis Ford Coppola is one of the most recognized names in cinema. And for good reason, as his filmography in the 1970s is unrivaled by any other filmmaker's when he graced the movie world with four absolute knockouts and vaulted himself beyond his contemporaries at the time. Since then though it's been a bit of an up-and-down story for the venerable director, drifting through flawed but artistically driven passion projects like One from the Heart to standard commercial fare with little of his vision on display with films like The Rainmaker. Regardless of what side you fall on regarding Coppola's post-1970s work, there's always been this hope that Coppola would return to form and grant us with one more epic masterpiece that would prove to be his swan song from the art form he helped propel to new heights. Since releasing The Rainmaker in 1997, Coppola had only directed three features and none since the laughably paltry Twixt in 2011. So as rumors began to swirl that Coppola was finally making Megalopolis, the first draft of which he had written decades ago, there was an understandable excitement around the project. It's ambitious, expensive, grandiose, and steeped in philosophical musings that made every film geek salivate at the idea that the old master had returned with a film to be discussed among his big four. I am here to sadly report that this is not the case. Megalopolis is a deeply flawed film that most viewers will laugh at when not struggling to make sense of everything it's trying to pack in, with odd casting choices and characters that are mere stand-ins for quotes and ideas making this big budget project anything but a blockbuster. And yet I couldn't look away. After several years yearning for Coppola to escape the invisible style of corporate commercialism in watered down products in the '80 and '90s, here he is making something so audacious, so unique, so definably his that when I wasn't scratching my head at bad dialogue or the lack of narrative coherence I was enjoying being swept up in a film the likes we've never seen before and never will again. For better and for worse.

Megalopolis is set in "New Rome", which is really just contemporary New York City (I still don't fully understand beyond hammering the Roman Empire metaphors upon us every few seconds why Coppola does this since it's literally NYC down to today's companies and advertisements seen throughout the movie and really distracts from the fictional city he's trying to portray) but has changed things like Madison Square Garden into a modern Coliseum. Coppola is heavy on the Roman Empire, from quoting Marcus Aurelius to naming the lead characters Cesar (Adam Driver) and Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). I don't think this ever fully works, as New Rome looks nothing like Rome and is -- as I griped above -- obviously just contemporary New York with some minor changes through CGI thrown in. Cesar is perhaps the city's most famous resident, acting as a more flamboyant cross between Robert Moses and Howard Hughes where the genius architect fixates on how to improve the city and turn it into a utopia while also attending all the wild nightlife has to offer and drowning himself in alcohol, drugs, and women. Driver delivers his lines with the serious grit of an intellectual in existential peril, spouting off enigmatic quotes to inferiors and reciting Hamlet while struggling with self-doubt and frustration at attempting to build a society for people who don't understand it. Opposing him is Mayor Cicero, who is widely disliked by New Rome's citizens and is dubious of Cesar's insistence on improving the city with megalon, an alien-like element that Cesar won the Nobel Prize for discovering. Megalon itself, much like Cesar's ability to freeze time, isn't explained but it appears to be an element that's able to float and adapt to become whatever structure Cesar desires it to support. His use of the megalon is largely subscribed to moving walkways and golden buildings twisting into the sky, but it also can apparently heal serious wounds and its full potential has yet to be tapped even by Cesar. When a catastrophe hits New Rome, it's Cesar's opportunity to rebuild the city in his vision of a utopia and attempt to carve out a New Rome that works for everyone, not just the wealthy. 

If this was the movie's sole focus, I think we would've really been in for a treat. The idea of a revolutionary architect attempting to create their vision of a utopia with an experimental element only to be met by challenges by city leaders and citizens alike is a fascinating one. A utopia is only a utopia in the eye of the beholder anyways, and the thought of Coppola exploring the good and bad these changes can have on a city is the movie I really wanted and the one we should've gotten. Megalopolis, as its title would suggest, is anything but restrained and is a massive movie with several characters, side plots, and downright absurd moments of excess that eat up more of the film's lengthy running time than I would have preferred. There's a whole host of characters and big names in this movie, from Laurence Fishburne to Dustin Hoffman to Talia Shire to Jon Voight to Shia LaBeouf. It's pretty wild seeing such a random cast come together on screen, and while it's fun to see some of these faces you haven't seen in awhile on the big screen (some due to age, some due to controversy) they never really seem to gel. Everyone seems to understand they're playing their roles for camp, but characters and plots fly in and out of this movie so often and usually without buildup or reason that you start to wonder why Coppola felt he had to stuff so much in. There's little payoff with any of the people involved in this movie, and what's most apparent is that none of these characters feel like people at all. They're all basically just walking, talking themes/quotes/allegories and you never elicit much from any of them aside from their very surface level characterizations that most don't shake by the film's end. One of Coppola's themes in Megalopolis surrounds a city steeped too far in excess, and unfortunately he's victim of the same offense. There's a lot of characters posturing and making speeches, but rarely do we understand them beyond that because the scenarios they continue to operate in feel manufactured and aimless. Megalopolis is a very busy movie, but it's clear that it would have been far more effective if it was less so.

For those hoping for sprinkles of wonder, Megalopolis has that too. Most striking is a sequence where Cesar is driven to a shady part of town in the rain. The car passes large statues literally kneeling down from exhaustion at holding up the city. Cesar's thoughts race in a beautiful display of color and soft focus imagery as he hurdles towards the lone ray of gold in the area: a flower stand. There's another moment at a party where Cesar is heavily under the influence as he attempts to have the drugs drown out his pervasive thoughts about his utopia but the thoughts win the battle in a brilliantly visualized tug-of-war. For every moment of baffling nonsense or unnecessary character interactions, Coppola balances it with some truly amazing scenes that show the old master still very much has it. No matter where anyone lands on how they feel about Megalopolis (and most will not like it), no one can say the film lacks vigor, is stilted, or dull. Megalopolis is a wild movie. Messy, but not a mess. Steeped in magical realism that's so oneiric and of its own design while also grappling with complicated societal problems. It's a movie that's too much excess, not enough substance. It's a movie that has a lot of characters but no real people behind them. An arthouse film fashioned within a blockbuster. And most importantly it's a distinct movie that could only come from the visionary that is Coppola. For all of its flaws -- and there are plenty -- Megalopolis is a movie unlike any that's ever been made and will absolutely never be made again. No, this is not a late stage magnum opus to hang out with The Godfather or Apocalypse Now. But if this does prove to be Francis Ford Coppola's final film he ends his magnificent career in movies pushing his artistic abilities and delivering a movie that is unmistakably his. He leaves with a film that mirrors the career of its creator; at times brilliant, at times frustrating, but never compromised. 

5/10