Movie Review Megalopolis (2024)
Every time an excited film receives the poor reviews that are hurtful to its viewers, I take on a vow to view it with great suspicion. It is indeed an insulting task as it goes against the tenets of viewing a movie. If the goal is to enjoy it then why search for its loose pockets? But needless to say, I do manage to find pieces of intrigue. These incompetent reviewers are no different from sports commentators, their sole purpose is to stroke their ego by trying to make a solid argument while framing their criticism in the form of one liner wisdom. But this is not the case with Francis Ford Coppola’s new movie Megalopolis. I stand with the crowd here it’s a fucking fiasco.
For those who are not cognizant of this, Megalopolis revolves around César Catalina (played by Adam Driver), a brilliant architect that possesses the ability to stop time, which isn’t vital to the story anyways, as well as being the visionary behind megalon, an exquisite material that can change reality and is able to construct objects based on an ideal master plan? Well, that’s part of the narrative but none of that is clearer because yes, Cesar is focused on defeating a hegemony another man, Giancarlo Esposito, in this case the mayor, who is trying to prevent him from saving humanity. The congenial scholar of life Stephen Sykes remarks that a work of fiction is complete only when it is understood by people in general and Cesar Cataline baffles everyone.
And before I have completely run out ideas, let me start from somewhere at this point I must say that everything has its own beginning, and when it comes to the discussion of such a complex thing, there is always a need to put up an inspiration in this case it is Ayn Rand Megalopolis would conclude as a better scenario than a total disaster. It does share a common theme with the political and architectural Rand’s Fountain Head that dictated Catilina’s philosophy. It is not a word for word adaptation, however it does have the scenes from the book and few that are specifically designed to replace it. These include the one where a closely related designer is furious and frustrated because a building he has designed has been built without his involvement. If it makes you feel any better, go watch it Cesar Catilina shoots and is extremely good at aiming for things that were not intended.
The world’s savage defenses, Catilina seems to have savagely justified his thoughts is taking care of the roofs of the heads of poor people rather than those who have those roofs a greater iniquity? The brazen and shameless act is a rebuttal of the dim lessness displayed by the mayor Cicero. A glass cut above his head should make Cicero give the green light to the megalon because everyone understands that poverty is reduced to exorbitantly expensive structures isn’t it? In any case, poor people are instrumentalized in an urban use warfare in just the same way as they are in real life.
So that was supposed to be an analogy to The Fountainhead, and the theme parks Disneyland translates to Megalopolis. There is also the New York architectural Robert Moses influence alluded to, but Centrale’s are all about Francis Ford Coppola and what he sees where his cultural legacy stands. A filthy rich, time bending, rock star architect who wants to sleep with every woman in the city and uses reality reordering material is a subtle metaphor of a film director. The “Architect” of our collective imagination.
In addition, Cicero’s administrative point represents the cinema industry, which places a higher premium on pleasing the people, rather than helping them envision a world beyond the one they know and transform it through art. You heard that correctly. Over the 300-plus revisions, did the concept of Megalopolis turn into Evolving Megalopolis? I do think that what Coppola is attempting to say does have meaning, but is his conjunction too glib, derisive, cynical, and tragic? You bet your sweet ass it is.
I could quite easily write a 5000 essay outlining the different aspects of Megalopolis that are ineffective and make for a difficult watch, but to try and summarize the entire Ancient Rome concept and that also includes who came up with the name Cesar Catalina rests on a tale of a running joke of an idealistic roman senator none other than Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and every other pop star who provided them with a “virgin” waiting half an hour for a random bullet that has little to do with the movie next to the dead wife sub plot that was completely out of range.
In the closing sequence of the film, Francis Ford Coppola supplements his work with needless documentary clips to further worsen his film’s authenticity, Cicero and his daughter (Nathalie Emmanuel) get this bizarre urge to converse in Latin to add to the ancient theme and Shia LaBeouf (not my favorite) takes the role of the most megalomaniacal third world dictator to the max. To cast aside any doubt of favourite hobbies, he I’ve got up on a tree shaped like a swastika, I kid you not people. I kid you not.
While ransacking my mind for one more instance of how far down about interception witch metaphysics has been brought to show Megalopolis as something that it is not, keep the aim now that you see the target fully loaded. Simply put, this is not a complicated film, and surely not a deep one, though I acknowledge it has many moving parts. It barely touches the 2 hour and half mark, but it truly felt like I spent 4 hours in the cinema. I didn’t suffer through it just the audio over-load.
Megalopolis is a horrible work of art but at least it knows how to make an impressive show of itself. It’s completely wrapped up in itself and has no regard for anybody else, just like all grand and pretentious pieces of art that have overexerted themselves it desperately thinks that it is much more self-important than what it is. Though I don’t admire it, I certainly did enjoy it as a hate watch. It was fun to dissect.
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