A Reel Review: AMSTERDAM

As Reel Speak stated in his review of Andrew Dominik’s BLONDE (HERE), one of Hollywood’s new favorite toys is the Fairy Tale, where a real-life event or character from history is given an alternate story or ending. Quentin Tarantino did it with great success, Andrew Dominik did it to a lesser success, and up next on deck is celebrated writer and director David O’ Russell and AMSTERDAM; his first film in seven years. 

 

In 1918, WWI veterans and best buddies Dr. Burt (Christian Bale), and Harold (John David Washington), enlist the help of their old friend and Army nurse Valerie (Margot Robbie), to help clear their names when they are accused of murdering the daughter (Taylor Swift), of their former commanding officer. As they race to find the truth, they stumble upon a darker and larger plot…

 

Written and directed by David O’Russell, AMSTERDAM is an alternate take on the Business Plot: a 1933 political conspiracy to overthrow the sitting President…which may or may not have been a farce. AMSTERDAM isn’t too concerned with following the history books, as the plot itself is moved up nearly 20 years, but is instead focused on dancing around it as the characters stumble and bumble around trying to clear their names.

 

If one word could be used to describe the film, it would be chaos. AMSTERDAM races around from location to location, often using extended flashbacks, unraveling the plot and the mess the characters are in layer by layer. Its frantic style makes it difficult to latch onto anything, and tends to get so discombobulated that it is ultimately exhausting.

 

AMSTERDAM however still has a lot to enjoy, with a gorgeous looking movie, stunning 1918 environments, and very good humor. But despite its frantic pacing, it oddly feels every bit of its 134 minutes. 

 

The entire ensemble cast is excellent. Christian Bale is hilarious, and his look and stature (he’s a wounded vet with a crooked back), just eats up the screen. John David Washington and Margot Robbie have great chemistry together, and Taylor Swift is a huge surprise. The rest of the cast is also great; Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldana, Mike Meyers, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, Rami Malek, and Robert DeNiro. 

 

After going all over the map, AMSTERDAM eventually gets into the deep plan to overthrow the U.S. Government, but by that time the audience would be too beat up to really care. There’s a good story at hand here, and quite relevant in today’s times, it’s just too bad that it took such a messy route to get there. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it