Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, a film some 50 years in the making, has finally hit the big screen after years of production troubles, postponements, on-set conflicts, misconduct allegations and misleading trailers. This raises the question: is the final product worth the wait? Or did the behind-the-scenes drama take a toll on the film’s quality? Coppola is undoubtedly a cinematic legend, having directed such classic films as ‘The Godfather’, ‘The Conversation’ and ‘Apocalypse Now’.
However, his legendary status doesn’t prevent Megalopolis from feeling overly convoluted. On a technical level, the visuals are a bit lacklustre, thanks to some dodgy computer-generated imagery and unappealing lighting. While the production design and costumes are creative, they feel out of place due to the poor world-building. There are individual sequences, mostly monologues by Adam Driver’s character Cesar, which give some insight into the themes and ideas Coppola is attempting to present to the audience. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between, as much of the film is made up of dull world-building, weird visual trips and laughably bad ‘comedic’ sequences (the sex scenes lack the finesse expected from a film of this calibre).
The confusion of the film’s messaging is most evident in the performances. Shia LaBeouf’s character, for example, shifts from being a troublemaking cousin to a populist figure, leaving his performance inconsistent. Jon Voight gives probably the most confused performance, with his character seeming to change every five minutes (I do think he’d do well in a Judi Dench lookalike competition though). Even the normally fantastic Adam Driver and Giancarlo Esposito can’t save some of the dialogue. The stilted dialogue had me wondering if George Lucas contributed to the script– that might explain how robotic everything is.
My biggest technical complaint is with the editing, which, like the rest of the film, is very flashy yet often incomprehensible. The camera never rests on important moments, instead always cutting away to reaction shots for random characters or different scenes entirely. It completely messes up the pacing and takes away any impact that individual moments could have. With a sharper edit, the film could have been more comprehensible and could have had some of its themes and ideas start to stick.
The only interesting aspect of the film to analyse in my opinion was the meta-textual aspects. Knowing about all the behind-the-scenes drama did help to give some perspective on the confused outcome and knowing that Coppola largely self-financed the film gives an insight into how strongly he believes in the material. It also, to some extent, allows me to appreciate the chaotic nature of the final product.
Knowing about all the behind-the-scenes drama did help to give some perspective on the confused outcome and knowing that Coppola largely self-financed the film gives an insight into how strongly he believes in the material.
Overall, Megalopolis is a misfire on many levels. While I admire the film’s ambition, it feels somewhat overstuffed and underdeveloped and doesn’t quite match the heights of Francis Ford Coppola’s best work.
