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In a pivotal scene in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), turns to his brother Sonny (James Caan) to discuss their revenge plans for an attack on their father.

“It’s not personal, it’s strictly business,” Michael said, putting the security of their family enterprise over his own ambitions.

Ironically, Coppola’s career has largely been the opposite, often putting his personal goals ahead of good business. His latest film, “Megalopolis,” is a perfect example of this. The film has been his passion project since the 1980s and he has reportedly invested $120 million in it. But the film fails to live up to Coppola’s ambition.

“Megalopolis” is an overly complicated, disjointed mess. The story is awkwardly paced, the script is poorly written and certain actors are incoherent. “Megalopolis” claims to have grand ideas about humanity and power, but ultimately does not show anything other than the pitfalls of a director exerting too much control.

The film is set in a fictionalized version of New York called New Rome, as Coppola wanted the movie to have similar themes to classic Roman epics. He believes the same issues that led to the fall of the Roman Empire are present in modern society and could similarly affect humanity.

“What I want them to say is, ‘We’re going to have a conversation (about) the society we’re living in, the only one available to us, and discuss ideas about how we could make the world better,’” Coppola said of “Megalopolis” in an interview on the “Q with Tom Power” podcast.

Contrary to Coppola’s intention, the characters in the film never present any interesting ideas about humanity and how people have destroyed the world. The only thing driving many of the main characters is greed and desire to hold power in society. Rather than a reinterpreted Roman fable, “Megalopolis” feels more like poorly-done satire.

Sophia Burke | Contributing Illustrator

Based on the Roman story “The Second Catiline Conspiracy,” the film follows a feud between Roman senator Lucius Sergius Catilina and Marcus Tullius Cicero. In “Megalopolis,” the troubled government official is the mayor of New Rome, Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who has become unpopular amid a financial crisis.

In this chaos, we meet the movie’s version of Catilina, Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), who attempts to rebuild the city into a utopia using the fictional substance Megalon while falling in love with Mayor Cicero’s daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel).

As Catilina gets deeper into his construction of Megalopolis, he loses touch with reality as the world around him crumbles. Adding to the chaos is Catilina’s uncle Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight), his cousin Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf) and television reporter Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza).

Voight, LaBeouf and Plaza are in some of the most outlandish scenes, with insane dialogue, a wild sex scene and an erection innuendo involving a bow and arrow. They provide a genuine comedic tone to “Megalopolis.”

It’s also difficult to understand how Driver and Emmanuel are in the same movie as some of their co-stars, as their acting is not up to par. The pair’s on-screen chemistry is weak, making their supposed relationship unbelievable and their scenes’ narrative tension uninteresting.

In what is meant to be a crucial moment in the movie, Catilina talks to Julia about his hopes for the Megalopolis project and how he believes his vision can change the world. But the film does little to show us why the reclusive genius Catilina would ever actually take sincere advice from Julia. Driver plays Catilina as someone so detached from reality that he doesn’t believe anyone else could truly understand him.

As Catilina and Julia begin working together, an oddly-placed montage seems to last a few months, though there isn’t a clear passage of time. Not only does this time jump feel like a narrative crutch, but it also excludes character development for Catilina, Julia and other main characters. It would have been interesting to see how Catilina uses Megalon and why he is obsessed with it. Instead, Megalon feels like magical material that Coppola doesn’t fully understand or know how to explain to the audience.

For a movie that cost $120 million, “Megalopolis” has some of the worst-looking movie scenes in recent memory. The film’s messy CGI never makes New Rome look fresh or feel real. When we see the completed version of the city Megalopolis, it looks like a lame Disneyland ride, and none of the actors feel like they are actually in the world. Everything about “Megalopolis” feels detached from reality, including the world it is set in.

Early in his career, Coppola was known as a director who took risks. The making of “The Godfather” was one of the most complicated processes in movie history. Still, Coppola steered the ship to a Best Picture Oscar, and “The Godfather” became one of the most influential American films ever.

Though the production of “Apocalypse Now” endangered Coppola’s mental health and he faced challenges throughout the filming, it’s one of the most harrowing and best-done war films ever made. Investing $120 million of his own money into a project may be his biggest risk yet, and the least likely to pay off.

“Megalopolis” is a flawed attempt to say something meaningful about humanity and how society has crumbled. The plot never amounts to anything and ends on such an empty note that it feels like a joke to the audience. It would have been interesting to see Coppola make a movie with these themes when he was in his directing prime. Unlike his wine, Coppola’s directing is not getting better as he ages.

Published on September 30, 2024 at 9:54 pm