Amsterdam – Film Review

In the 1930s, three friends—a doctor, a nurse, and an attorney—witness a murder, become suspects themselves and uncover one of the most outrageous plots in North American history.

There’s a ton of moving parts and a lot of respectable elements on display in Amsterdam – a movie that genuinely could’ve been great had the script been reworked considerably to make it more digestible and easier to follow, and if the film had about thirty minutes of its running time chopped down.

It runs at a hefty two hours and fourteen minutes and yet it feels even longer than that at the end of it all. This is one of the most annoying kinds of movies there is; the kind that prides itself on having a gigantic, A-list cast of actors, which is where they put all their attention, instead of focusing on crafting a legitimately strong story with memorable characters.

You’d think that since there are so many Hollywood titans involved with this movie that at least a few of the characters would be interesting or well-developed, but that’s sadly not the case with Amsterdam. They are all just quirks, essentially. They have nothing memorable or interesting about them whatsoever. To tell you the truth, it’s hard to even remember some of their names.

This was a hugely messy movie that went in a dozen different directions with its storyline, making it feel like the cinematic equivalent of a pinball machine. It may look fun from a distance, but once you put that coin in the machine and get going, you get quickly frustrated and just want to give up on it entirely.

It’s also a huge box office flop, and the studio was seemingly confused as to why. Maybe it’s because it was directed by David O. Russell, who’s a truly awful person. Had they hired a different director to helm this one, it’s hugely possible that it wouldn’t have failed as hard as it did.

And it’s difficult not to wonder why so many talented folks agreed to be a part of this confusing project. Christian Bale, John David Washington, and Margot Robbie are three of the most talented actors in Hollywood right now, which makes it a true head-scratcher as to why they were wanting to be in this film.

What did they see in it that myself and many others just don’t? On paper, Amsterdam could’ve read like a fun and diverting murder mystery period-piece comedy-drama, but then, once they all started to commence filming, they realized just how much of a bad film they had forced themselves into.

On a technical standpoint, Amsterdam is kind of a masterpiece. The costume design in this film is truly impeccable, the cinematography from Emmanuel Lubezki is staggeringly gorgeous, the musical score from Daniel Pemberton is whimsical and fun, and Jay Cassidy‘s editing is sharp.

But, that’s all technical stuff. This movie desperately needed to have a great story that grips the audience by the shirt collar and refuses to let them go. Unfortunately, though, we ended up getting one of the most poorly executed movies of the year – one that’s even more disappointing when you consider just how amazing this movie could’ve been under different creative hands.

Amsterdam is a true head-scratcher of a movie that goes on far too long and comes complete with an insanely messy script that can’t seem to focus on one thing for more than a few minutes.