I can understand people looking at the cast and the budget and the trailers and going into the film expecting one thing and getting something entirely different. I, however, thought this movie was incredible. And terrifying.
I'm not really one to watch movie trailers anymore. They're too long and tell too much of the story while too often setting up misguided expectations. But they're also difficult to avoid.
I went into this movie knowing little more than some visuals from the trailer, it's Coppola with Driver, and it's been poorly reviewed.
After watching the film on the comfort of my couch, I was gassed. This movie is a warning. It's warning us about greed and capitalism and nationalism and rejecting our humanity. There have been countless works of fiction warning us about the consequences of merely being human. It's evident that too few of us have been heeding these warnings.
Having little knowledge of the stories this is based on (see: Catilinarian conspiracy), I searched for some interviews with Coppola. Now, you can say a movie should be complete all on its own without additional knowledge; and that's fine. I disagree. I enjoy movies that pull from other works and history. This film retches with metaphor and I love it. I like stories that breathe outside the theater, that ask me to make connections, that keep me thinking about them long after the credits are over.
The premise of the film is that the United States was intentionally based on the Roman Republic and, like Rome, is on a course towards collapsing. It's a great argument that Coppola has illustrated and it should be a moment for us all to reflect upon. He's been working on this film since the 1980s it could not be more pertinent right now. We should dissect this film as we should dissect the rise and fall of Rome.
The film claims, Utopia isn't a place - it's the commonness of genuine debate, empathy, equity, and not being a pawn in a corporatocracy.
It ends in a way today's youth should resent. It says, look at all this shit your elders and governments have done - now it's up to you to fix it. Because if you don't, sorry, but you're on the path towards the Empire of America. Still, it says so in a hopeful way.
I don't think it's a perfect movie. I wish some things were done differently - perhaps a little more specifically or apparently - a tiny bit more cohesion. My politics and my rage-buttons might prefer more direct lines to modern day personalities. But I really enjoy the opportunity it gives us to debate and compare and to, maybe, step outside our echo chambers.
Compared to the vast majority of cinema that's been put out in recent years, Megalopolis "leaps into the unknown". Preexisting Hollywood franchises are continually regurgitated for people who fear the unknown. Discomfort is divisive. Populism is comforting. Populism rejects freedom. What's gained from repetitiveness but disconnection from our imagination? Imagination created the gods. We need to reject populism to create great things.
The film itself may have some flaws but Coppola's story is monumental. I'm looking forward to watching this movie again and studying up on the rise and fall of the Roman Republic and the Catilinarian Conspiracy.
Edit: I just saw a tv ad for crypto and their tag line is “fortune favors the brave”. Hilariously, it’s a very pertinent statement.