Amsterdam (2022)

Based on an actual plot to overthrow the American government in the pre-WWII era by powerful business men who wanted to install a fascist tyrant, Amsterdam mostly fictionalizes the events, centres a kooky trio of protagonists at its centre, and weaves a complicated yet not always compelling story around them and their actions to stop the plot. There is a lot going on here and most of it gets lost in a messy script that keeps changing focus and rarely delivers any payoff for the breadcrumbs it lays along the way. 

What I enjoyed the most about Amsterdam is (strongly implied but never delivered on) thruple at its centre; Bale, Washington, and Robbie who bond together in Amsterdam (hence the film's title) post-WWI. This segment is filmed in the way romantic movies film 2 people falling in love. But the film afterward goes to great lengths to ensure we aren't seeing a polyamorous grouping by inserting Saldaña's otherwise needless character and having Bale talk about his "wife" all the time despite the film making it clear he doesn't love her and she doesn't love him. I think if the film had used the three's love of each other as a bond (which it sort of does but always hedges into "friendship" which basically neuters the power of this family) Amsterdam overall could have bee stronger. 

 

Amsterdam runs from one coinkidink to another having multiple characters come in and out of the lives of this threesome (and even their coincidental meetings are often too much disbelief to suspend) until we really stop caring about who is who and why they are doing it. The film ends on this conspiracy crescendo which then drops most of what else we saw leading up to it. And the ending, with Bale sadly saying goodbye to his "friends" just feels like a weak response from a film no willing to commit to anything it's doing. 

It's long, and while there are delightful moments, Amsterdam doesn't hold on enough to make its runtime worth it. It mostly feels like a missed opportunity to do a number of the things it was trying but better. 

Amsterdam

Starring: Christian Bale, John David Washington, Margot Robbie, Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy,  Zoe Saldaña, Mike Meyers, Michael Shannon, Rami Malick, Robert De Niro, Timothy Olyphant, Taylor Swift, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alessandro Nivolo, Andrea Riseborough, Colleen Camp, Leland Orser, Tom Irwin, Beth Grant, Ed Begley Jr.

Writer/Director: David O. Russell