Amsterdam ★★ ½
DRAMA (2022)
Director: David O’Russell
InterpretationsCast: Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington

A satanic plot to overthrow America keeps the plot interesting, but there are frequent plot holes and pacing.

Five-time Academy Award nominee David O’Russell (A Guide to Optimism) returns with a film that pairs historical events with one of his usual dramatic characters. We are in the 1930s when two good friends and former World War I comrades, Bert (Christian Bale) and Harold (John D. Washington), discover the murder of their former colonel. As they try to solve the case, they run into a good friend (Margot Robbie) from when the three of them lived carefree in Amsterdam, and sure enough, they put her in… the bay. Things get complicated, though, as the case hides a satanic conspiracy aimed at America’s fascism.

O’Russell becomes even more chaotic than, for example. with The Guide to Obfuscation, signing a script that moves in many different directions, not always connected or even compatible with each other. The main theme here is American identity with direct references to the issue of race, as well as friendship and love, which are the antidote to the “evil” that threatens the world.

The latter is embodied in some characters who are more like caricatures and are less convincing opponents of the heroes.

Interestingly, though, these characters’ pasts are shown in front of the camera, helping us to better understand them, even if, again, their stories don’t quite fit into the main narrative.

All in all, plot holes, yawns and pacing are common here, in a film that retains the subcutaneous humor and brilliance of the American filmmaker in some of his observations, yet at its longest run it flows completely anachronistically.

If the ensemble finally manages to hold its own, it owes it to some well-written characters and especially Christian Bale, who, as usual, is impeccable in his playing. He is accompanied, as usual in O’Russell’s films, by a host of Hollywood stars such as Robert De Niro, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, Zoe Saldana and Taylor Swift in a surprise role.