‘Megalopolis’ review: A new kind of ‘Conversation’

Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is the filmmaker’s vision of the future: bright, boisterous, and somehow very basic.

Before my screening of Megalopolis, there was a live Q&A session with the film’s writer/director/producer Francis Ford Coppola and two other guests; Robert De Niro and Spike Lee. Honestly though, they might as well have been unassuming henchmen for a mob boss because they could barely get a word in. Coppola would not stop talking, in a rambling sense on par with a grandpa wondering what’s so great about TikTok nowadays. Also like a grandpa, he has a hopeful vision of the future informed by his past experiences. We can come together and live as one people, like back in the old days.

But then when you try to dive deep into “the old days,” i.e. systematic racism, economic inequality, political corruption and other lowlights of America, Coppola starts talking again. He hasn’t got time to wait. At 85 years old, he needs to make one last cinematic statement before the curtains fall. So he’ll keep talking, even when he doesn’t have a microphone. His latest, Megalopolis, is the cinematic equivalent of grandpa rambling about the future he sees from the past he remembers. But to be fair, Coppola can ramble in more ways than one.

The proud New Yorker reimagines his home as “New Rome,” a towering city that mixes capes and classic cars with QR codes and Grace VanderWaal’s ukulele. New Rome is run by Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who leaves the poor in squalor and believes the solution to any woes is building a casino in the heart of the city. Speaking of building, enigmatic architect Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) mocks the mayor’s power with plans for something greater: “Megalopolis,” a glowing utopia where everyone is equal and innovation is everywhere. Some find Cesar’s ambitions charming, including Cicero’s daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) and New Rome’s top banker Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight). Others, including Cesar’s ex Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza) and his cousin Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf), refuse to share their inherited power and conspire to turn the people against the inspiring artist.

Tricks of the trade.

Coppola has been making movies for over 60 years, so it’s safe to say he’s learned a thing or two. He’s also spent the last 27 years making smaller, more personal films that let him try new camera tricks and experiment with different visual styles. So basically, Megalopolis is Coppola throwing everything he can at the wall to make his story as visually epic as possible. One minute there are silhouettes of cowering civilians flashed against the towers of New York City, the next has Wow Platinum’s head spinning around in a goblet of wine trying to hypnotize the audience. It really is jaw-dropping to see an octogenarian filmmaker go for broke on making the wild images in his head come alive on screen and for the most part, it works! Megalopolis is, if nothing else, one of the most visually distinct movies of the year.

But like all great parties, it overstays its welcome. Coppola’s grand vision of mixing Roman-age wealth with today’s blockbuster expectations becomes numbing after a while, especially when he throws more green-screened visuals in the background. Or to put it better, Cesar’s utopia looks less like a Coppola creation and more like a George Lucas shortcut. However, that’s only in the movie’s backend and it’s commendable that Coppola shot so much of Megalopolis on practical sets and New York City-esque streetscapes. Still, the overflow of style blocks some of the emotional story beats when his actors are trying to wring human connection of Coppola’s overly-romantic style of dialogue. Cesar’s first official arrival in the movie has him quoting Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be” speech almost verbatim, though most of the other characters also talk like they should be monologging with a skull in their hand.

Give peace a chance.

Pretentious as it all sounds, the most shocking thing about Megalopolis is how simple its message is. For all the operatic performances and gaudy sets, Coppola is using his (supposedly) final cinematic tour de force to say…can’t we all just get along? It’s shocking to see Coppola kick the movie off with the decadence and depravity of The Wolf of Wall Street (drunken parties, promiscuous women, silk fabrics and Rolls-Royces) only to bring it home with a message so saccharine. Especially coming from characters (and the man who wrote them) who are already vastly wealthy and have suffered almost no consequences from their excesses. Because Megalopolis rarely comes down from its high of designer capes and gold linens, the 138-minute runtime can feel like a slog (especially in the middle) and leave you unsatisfied at its naive conclusion.

Coppola keeps showing the disenfranchised New Romans rioting in Madison Square Garden and glaring through fences, but he never gives them a voice. They’re either easily manipulated by the rich cosplaying with “power to the people” rhetoric or are dirty vagrants vandalizing the fancy props meant to entertain the well-off. For someone who believes everyone is cut from the same cloth, he sure likes to let those in nicer clothes talk. Cesar’s inevitable self-realization of letting the rest of the world in on his precious creation doesn’t even come from someone who’d greatly benefit from a more unified society. Instead, it’s the already well-off Mayor’s daughter still wearing designer gowns and flawless makeup. Hearing talks of equality from someone looking like a guest star on Sex and the City is a little hard to stomach.

Playing to the back row.

If an actor is sporting beaming gold and luscious lace, it’s probably hard for them not to match that outstanding appearance with outlandish performances. Plaza, for instance, is on the exact right frequency playing someone called Wow Platinum; a devilish diva who wants to devour (metaphorically and literally) everyone she shares a scene with. It’s a wonder if she filmed this and Agatha All Along simultaneously because casting spells wouldn’t be too out of place in Megalopolis. Same goes for LaBeouf, who comes off like if Jared Leto’s Joker was also a Prince impersonator. Voight is basically Coppola’s avatar (though actually four months older than Coppola), drunk on power and blindly marveling at the circus in front of him like a senior seeing a drone for the first time.

For all the wickedness displayed by the antagonists here, you wish the rest of the cast leveled-up as well. Driver shows promise at the start of the movie with his Hamlet recital and first encounter with Emmanuel, but then can’t find the right balance between tortured genius and noble leader. Emmanuel also can’t find room to flesh-out her character, trapped as the apple of Driver’s eye without any moments to make herself distinct. It’s nice to see Esposito have a bit of fun as a crooked politician smiling through the boos of his people, but then he too has to settle into a blander supporting part that doesn’t clash with Driver enough. Having our heroes try to be as bombastic as the villains would probably be too much, but there’s still the sense that they were told to just fade into the background while Coppola tries more visual effects.

The bottom line.

It’s easy to see Megalopolis as Coppola going full “Old Man Yells at Cloud” meme. It’s less of a grand final word from a legendary filmmaker and more like him trying to get everyone away from the, as an old friend said, “theme parks,” with a classic carnival. For all the retro thrills he has to offer as a director, Coppola’s script doesn’t have the cleverness or power to leave an indelible mark after the credits roll.

That said, the man still knows how to put on a show. The love Coppola has for all kinds of filmmaking is on full display and for the most part, it’s impressive to watch. You likely won’t see another movie with this much creativity on this scale in 2024, maybe even a little after that. So what if grandpa’s more rambling and unwieldy these days? He just wants to tell you a story.

Megalopolis is now playing in theaters everywhere. You can watch the trailer here.

Images courtesy of Lionsgate. You can read more reviews by Jon Winkler here.