What will we be remembered for when our time is over? The people we’ve left behind or the effect we have had on the world? Will we leave the world in a better state than we found it in, or will all the wealth and prosperity we have acquired simply change hands and little to nothing will ever change?
For the brilliant artist Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) the dream is to turn the city of New Rome into something greater. With his creation of a new magical building material, Megalon, he may just be able to make his Utopia happen, much to the dismay of newly elected Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), a corrupt conservative bureaucrat who would rather continue the status quo. New Rome is a giant city but it’s not big enough for these two men.
Things become more complicated as Cesar begins a relationship with Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), the daughter of Mayor Cicero. Backed by the immense wealth of his Uncle Crassus (Jon Voight), Cesar is sure to succeed. But as conspiracies loom, everyone else grabs for power. Cesar‘s spurned ex, Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza) and his deranged cousin, Clodio (Shia LaBeouf) won’t make it easy. One thing is for sure, in New Rome, nobody can stop time forever.
Megalopolis is the type of film that the term “passion project” was created for. Director Francis Ford Coppola has brought the world three of the greatest films of all time, consisting of The Godfather 1 & 2 (1972 & 1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979), the self-financed production of the latter nearly sending him mad. Yet the self-financed production of One From the Heart (1981) sent him bankrupt, a state he spent the next 2 decades attempting to crawl out of.
Yet since the late 70s, Coppola envisioned a sprawling epic modern retelling of the 63 BC Catilinarian conspiracy of ancient Rome. Many rewrites, recasting, setbacks, Covid and other impracticalities got in the way. But after selling his wine vineyard and self-financing the massive 120 million dollar budget himself at age 84, he can now finally bring his vision to the big screen.
The result is… let’s just say a unique yet familiar one. With full complete creative control (something he and film-school friend George Lucas’s both have always strived for) Coppola has created a fable precisely as bonkers as he wanted it to be. A mix of philosophy, an examination of where we are in the world and where we are going, through a sci-fi melange. The inspiration from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) is clear, but the combination of stylised poetic characters and a contemporary setting show that Baz Luhmann may have beaten Coppola to the punch with his Romeo + Juliet (1996).
Several films justify a 3 hour or more runtime (Coppola has made many himself) and Megalopolis feels like one which needed that much time. It is a sign of how densely packed the film is when its 158 minute runtime still feels bursting at the seams. Themes such as generational wealth, social media, celebrity worship, lust both physical and financial, building a better future, deepfakes, unchecked advancement in science, and the combination of man and machine are visited. But also, does one man have the right to dictate how the entire world should evolve?
All of it feels rushed in a messy convoluted script which needed more time (yet another theme of the film). For example, the idea of “what does America and its flag stand for” only ever seems to directly pop up in a political subplot before being dropped again, feeling way too “January 6th, 2021” to be part of Coppola’s supposed 50 year vision.
Characters don’t fare much better with many of them being underdeveloped or aimless. Cesar is a broken and reclusive idealist widow determined to be seen as dangerous yet mugs it up for the cameras like a bit of a Hollywood goof. There’s a virginal musician superstar, seemingly an 18 year old Britney Spears stand in, Vesta Sweetwater (Grace VanderWaal). She appears out of nowhere, is the most important figure to the entire plot and then is forgotten about over the course of 30 minutes, never to be mentioned again. Perhaps this is all unfocused by design, although I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of a “4 hour director’s cut” a few months from now.
It’s a real shame as the assembled cast is spectacular in the amount of names gathered, if not always in performance. A 55 year reunion between Midnight Cowboy‘s Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman is a long time coming, however, like the rest of the cast, neither have much to do or bring much to the table.
The stand out exceptions are Aubrey Plaza as the vindictive femme fatale, electrifying every scene she’s in, as well as Shia LaBeouf. LaBeouf is near unrecognisable but always gives 110% as a petulant representation of extreme privilege.
The visuals of Megalopolis are imaginative and fascinating thanks largely to impressive production design by Beth Mickle and Bradley Rudin. But the costume design by FOUR TIME Oscar winner Milena Canonero steals the show, making her a contender for a fifth! This really is a film best seen on the big screen thanks to these technical aspects.
The CGI on the other hand sadly appears cheap. There is a dreamlike style which can be appreciated but 120 million dollars of CGI doesn’t look like much when handled by an auteur who doesn’t know how to make it pop. Coppola for all his strengths is no Gareth Edwards or Neil Blomkamp, delivering a lot of flat and lifeless imagery where our jaws should be hitting the floor.
Despite all this I do think this Megalopolis is a film that every cinephile owes it to themselves to experience on the big screen. Although this won’t be the magnum opus Coppola clearly wants it to be, it is the realisation of half a century worth of dreaming from one of cinema’s biggest names that has come to fruition. While it is cluttered, pretentious and shallow, one can’t deny that Megalopolis is exactly the film Coppola has always wanted to make and should be appreciated as such. I just can’t promise you’ll actually enjoy it.