Amsterdam, directed by David O. Russell is an American crime movie based in the 1930s. The plot is based on three friends who witness a murder and end up being framed. They ignite on a journey to uncover one of the most outrageous murder plots in American history.
The main wow factor and selling point that has drawn many to go see Amsterdam, is of course the enormous A-star cast. The movie features Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John Denzel Washington, Chris Rock, Mike Myers, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro, and even Taylor Swift. If that cast isn't enough to make you want to see it yourself, then I don't know what is!
The plot line of this movie is super simple, and nothing too out of the ordinary or extreme. When I saw the advert for the film, I immediately wanted to go see it, not only because I absolutely love Amsterdam myself, but the witty advert and cast made me really drawn in. However, what I should have done before going to see the movie on the big screen, was read the reviews... Amsterdam has a whopping 34% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is extremely below average, especially for such a huge movie with such a big A-star cast. So what are my thoughts?
I did not like nor enjoy the movie one bit, it is really rare for me to write a review on here of something I didn't like, as usually, I am praising movies and books, but this time it can only be the opposite. My boyfriend and I couldn't even stay the whole duration of the movie and left 40 minutes before the movie ended, so I in fact did not see the ending. From what I can only imagine- it couldn't have redeemed the hour back that I wasted watching the first half.
I was extremely shocked at how bad the movie actually was, and one word to describe it is extremely boring! The idea of the story got too big... and David O. Russell overstuffed it. A simple storyline with big characters would have been much more effective, but instead, we got 3/4 storylines in one film- which is very confusing! We had the storyline of the murder, the storyline of Taylor Swift being hit by a car, the storyline of Denzel Washington falling in love, as well as another separate love story of Christian Bale. It was too much!
One thing I also cannot understand is the whole Taylor Swift selling point, I assumed Taylor would be the lead role in this film, as she was heavily incorporated into the advert- but instead, she is only shown in the first 10 minutes of the movie before she is killed off- very badly may I add. I love Taylor Swift's music, and I personally think she should stick to singing and leave the acting career to Harry Styles.
The plot just wasn't interesting enough to hold your attention. It was full of random conversations which add no extra key information to the movie plot. The whole first half of the film I was waiting for the plot to thicken, the drama to commence and the story to unfold, but the longer I waited the less and less interested I became. The movie rambled on forever, and my boyfriend and I both genuinely couldn't wait for the ending to come, so much so we left early.
With a great cast, you'd expect a great movie however I feel the issue may not have been the cast itself but the director and screenwriter who truly lacked the vision of telling the story. The shots were cheesy and every time the trio of friends was together you'd sort of wince because of how bland/ boring their friendship really was. I know it is inaccurate for the storyline but the whole friendship storyline was almost like a teen coming-of-age film but with adults, it just didn't match. The only actors that truly stood out and truly braced their roles in my opinion were Christian Bale and Margot Robbie. This film is extremely unfortunate because with the star-studded cast and director you'd think it be an unforgettable movie yet it fell so flat.
The acting in this film is super quirky and is described as a subliminal comedy, with lots of little comments which are supposed to make you smirk or giggle (How many jokes about a glass eye should any audience endure? Not funny when it tried to be) which I just thought was very disjointed and did not match the vibe of the movie at all. At the end of the day, the storyline for this movie is murder- so why try to make it humorous and quirky as well? The director was trying to do too much with this film and should have just kept it classic. In my opinion, he has spent too much on hiring big names and too little on writing a good script.
Overall, after me sitting for the first half of the movie, I still couldn't tell if it was a comedy or a reference to real historical events, I couldn't even tell if it was a murder mystery. I seriously don't know what the director was trying to achieve with this movie, and wouldn't recommend it to anyone- save yourself the £12 for a ticket to the movies!
