Amsterdam Movie Review

Rent Amsterdam on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: David O. Russell
Directed by: David O. Russell
Starring: Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Andrea Riseborough, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Timothy Olyphant, Zoe Saldana, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
In the 1930s, three friends witness a murder, are framed for it, and uncover one of the most outrageous plots in American history.

Verdict
This has an extensive cast, great production values, and it’s based on an interesting true story. Unfortunately that doesn’t make a good movie. There’s sort of a mystery, but there’s nothing driving the narrative. Events transpire, but the characters aren’t actively solving a mystery or chasing anything so the story has no momentum to carry the viewer to the end. These characters are quirky, but they don’t have anything to do as the story treads water until each scene ends.
Skip it.

Review
This is based on the Business Plot, a conspiracy to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.

This introduces us to Bert (Christian Bale), a World War I veteran that provides prosthetics to veterans. After learning what he does, he’s pushed into an autopsy by his friend Harold (John David Washington) which could be a potential murder. We’re just a few scenes in, but every actor has been some level of star. This movie has a great cast.

Christian Bale plays Burt Berendsen

This exciting introduction is undercut when the movie flashes back to how Bert and Harold met. This completely stops the movie’s plot. We’re stuck in the past with this flashback, and I want to know what’s happening in the movie’s present. This is a ‘how we got here’ trope, but the movies tries to hide it by making the introductory scenes longer. This movie would have been better served to begin chronologically while shortening the introduction of Bert, Harold, and later Valerie (Margot Robbie).

Nearly half way into the movie and we’re no further into the mystery than we were at the opening. This wants quirky characters, but doesn’t give them anything to do. Solving a mystery would help, but Bert and Harold stumble through the movie, accidentally meeting Valerie after having lost contact years ago.

Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington play Burt Berendsen, Valerie Voze, Harold Woodman

With a conspiracy to overthrow the government, you’d think this mystery would be more interesting, but this is boring because it doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere. This isn’t a mystery they are trying to actively solve. The trio wanders through events as a conspiracy happens around them. They don’t know where they are going or what they’re trying to solve. That robs them of the agency they need.

In an action movie, it’s clear the hero needs to stop the bad guy to save the world. We root for the hero and against the bad guy. In this movie, the heroes don’t know what’s going on. They don’t know what they’re trying to stop. We don’t have anyone to root for or against. The movie doesn’t want to reveal who the antagonists are so that it can have a big reveal later, but that would at least help the audience choose a side. Bert, Harold, and Valerie are likable, but aimless.