Megalopolis (15)

Civil unrest simmers in economically divided New Rome as incumbent conservative Mayor Franklyn Cicero struggles to articulate his vision. He is constantly thwarted by Cesar Catilina, Nobel Prize-winning chairman of the Design Authority, who has been empowered by federal government to demolish heavily populated blocks of New Rome so he can construct a cityscape of the future. Megalopolis will be a beacon of hope, fashioned using synthesised building material that Cesar invented.

LondonNet Film Review

Megalopolis (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Realising some dreams comes at a price. In the case of writer-director Francis Ford Coppola’s philosophical passion project, which dates back more than 40 years to a golden period after the back-to-back critical successes of The Godfather Part II and Apocalypse Now, that price tag is 120 million US dollars. Financed by the filmmaker through his family-branded wine business, Megalopolis is a bloated, bewildering and occasionally bewitching fable set in a utopian vision of New York modelled on the bacchanalian excesses and treachery of 63 BC Rome. The scope and ambition of Coppola’s endeavour is remarkable – he is literally backing himself – epitomised by a vertiginous opening sequence which demonstrates how Adam Driver’s idealist architect can temporarily halt the flow of time and defy the irresistible pull of gravity…

Alas, the 138-minute picture is fully susceptible to the laws of physics, and crashes down to earth soon after this temporal disruption when the same character begins reciting one of Hamlet’s most famous speeches for no obvious reason. Clarity eludes Megalopolis for the next two hours. Coppola’s script rambles through disparate hot-button topics – class and economic divisions, freedom of speech, deepfakes and AI intrusion, the politics of anger – but doesn’t have a sturdy, coherent narrative structure on which to hang these ideas.

Civil unrest simmers in economically divided New Rome as incumbent conservative Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) struggles to articulate his vision. He is constantly thwarted by Cesar Catilina (Driver), Nobel Prize-winning chairman of the Design Authority, who has been empowered by federal government to demolish heavily populated blocks of New Rome so he can construct a cityscape of the future. Megalopolis will be a beacon of hope, fashioned using the incredibly strong, synthesised building material that Cesar invented.

His grand vision is bankrolled by his wealthy uncle, Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight), head of Crassus National Bank. Cesar’s lover Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza), presenter of The Money Bunny financial news show, demands commitment. “I want to be one half of a power couple,” she snarls. “Which half,” Cesar coolly retorts, dampening her ardour. Wow elevates her social status elsewhere while the Mayor’s socialite daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) nurtures feelings for Cesar and his flamboyant cousin Clodio (Shia LaBeouf) orchestrates a Machiavellian scheme to seize the family fortune.

Megalopolis is a limping and leaden vanity project, which sparks curiosity for the wrong reasons. Coppola conjures some stunning imagery and occasionally his dialogue sings like when Cesar’s waspish mother, played with fervour by Talia Shire, campily quips: “Maybe alligators have the right idea. They eat their young.” Ambitious art ultimately eats itself and coughs up an eye-wateringly expensive and fabulously glossy fur ball.

– Jo Planter