Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis lives up to the hype of being absolutely bonkers and easily the most scatterbrained film of his storied career. The legendary auteur spent a whopping $120 million of his own money to produce it after decades of delays and script rewrites in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York City. Coppola's unfettered vision of a crumbling metropolis caught between an idealist's search for utopia, a pragmatist's obstructionism, and his daughter's torn loyalties is both audacious and bewildering. Most audiences will find Megalopolis utterly inaccessible. Those willing to accept the spectacle at face value should at least appreciate Coppola's significant effort.
Megalopolis' Large Cast of Characters
Laurence Fishburne narrates Megalopolis as a Roman science fiction epic set in an alternate modern timeline. He co-stars as Fundi Romaine, the driver and caretaker to protagonist Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius architect and Chairman of the Design Authority for New Rome. Cesar is tasked with rebuilding the city's impoverished neighborhoods and failing infrastructure. Reeling from the mysterious death of his wife, Cesar discovers a new miracle element called Megalon, which, among other fantastical properties, has given Cesar the ability to stop time.
Cesar's mortal enemy is the newly elected mayor and former district attorney, Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). He considers Cesar to be a charlatan kook who'll waste precious billions and lead the teetering city into ruin. Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) is Franklyn's treasured daughter and New Rome's top socialite. Financial reporter Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza), who's also Cesar's lover, follows Julia's every move for a fawning public.
Shia LaBeouf adds to the fray as Clodio Pulcher, Cesar's villainous and deviant cousin. He's always lived in Cesar's shadow, despite failed attempts to impress their powerful uncle, Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight), New Rome's wealthiest citizen. The plot begins in earnest during competing presentations about the city's future. Cesar openly mocks Franklyn as a shortsighted fool. Megalon will transform New Rome for the better. Julia, greatly offended by Cesar's arrogance and casual dismissal of her father's authority, decides to clandestinely visit him the following day.
A Class-Conscious Roman Allegory with Ridiculous Dialogue
Coppola bases the struggle between Cesar and Franklyn on the historical Catilinarian conspiracy of 63 BC, where an upstart politician attempted to overthrow the entrenched Roman leadership. The rub here is that Cesar's radical new ideas rattle the foundation of those rooted and benefiting from the status quo. Class disparity drives the narrative as New Rome's ruling elites distract the poor masses with the bread-and-circus pageantry of chariot races and vestal virgins' auctions, whose sacred chastity symbolizes the hope for better lives. Ignore your suffering with superficial appeasement while the rich continue to exploit you for their own benefit.
Coppola's intentions are obvious. His heavy-handed execution is where the fault lies. The first glaring problem is the script's awful dialogue. Cesar and Julia flirt in a bizarre mix of Latin and high-speak pretentiousness that honestly sounds ridiculous. It gets worse when she tries to impress her father by quoting Marcus Aurelius. The characters drone on in long, tiresome interactions. They yap with flourish and take forever to get to a point which could easily have been said clearly and succinctly. Plaza's Wow Platinum becomes the chief vocal offender in an overblown performance that veers accidentally comical. LaBeouf, to his credit, is the only actor in the ensemble that pulls off his character's lines.
Debauchery, Excess, and Nonsense
Megalopolis is loaded with naked women cavorting and orgiastic drug use. Bacchanalian debauchery abounds as Coppola emulates Rome's partying as the playground of the affluent. LaBeouf becomes Caligula incarnate to hammer themes of wanton excess. For the powerful, others do the grunt work, so there's no need for morality when their bellies are full, and boredom is the greatest sin of all. This hedonism actually makes sense in context. But like everything else in the film, the batter is poured on extra thick and becomes overbearing.
Megalopolis has impressive visual effects, costumes, and production design. You can see where Coppola's fortune was spent. The problem is that the eye-candy, beyond the frivolous shagging, becomes stunted by repeated WTF moments. The film's opening scene has Cesar majestically stepping out on the ledge of the psuedo-Chrysler building, looking towards New Rome's vast horizon, and then snapping his fingers to halt the action like pressing a pause button. What purpose does stopping time actually serve here? Is he trying to savor the moment? Or just something that he can do for kicks and giggles? You're left perplexed as this question is never answered.
A Love Story Without Chemistry Sinks Coppola's Opus
The lack of chemistry in Megalopolis ends up being an unforgivable failure. You never believe the love affair that's integral to the story. Julia is supposed to be the bridge that connects Cesar and Franklyn. It's understood that she's supremely desirable, but Driver and Emmanuel mix like oil and water. Both are talented actors without question. It's unfortunate they don't work together.
Coppola swings for the fences and hits the foul pole with a thud. The film ekes out one and a half stars for his name recognition, pure nerve, and an ambitious aesthetic. Any other filmmaker would have been lambasted here. Megalopolis is a hot mess.
Megalopolis is a production of American Zoetrope and Caesar Film LLC. It will be released theatrically on September 27th from Lionsgate.
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