Luke McWilliams gives his review of Amsterdam (MA15+), starring Christian Bale and Taylor Swift.
In 1933, injured World War I veteran Dr Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale) is asked by his old friend, fellow vet now lawyer Harold Woodsman (John David Washington) to perform an autopsy on the body of their old regiment commander Senator Bill Meekins at the behest of Meekins’ daughter Elizabeth (Taylor Swift) who suspects foul play. Soon the two are on the run and we flashback 15 years previously to see how the duo first met.
While marketing American Hustle, writer, director, and producer David O. Russel stated that he was more interested in character over story and plot. Whereas The Night of the 12th used the murder mystery genre as a framework to tell a story exploring the sociological effects of the death of a young woman, Amsterdam uses the genre to highlight its characters, letting the larger story stumble. Like the hard-boiled detective stories of the 1930s and ‘40s, the movie encapsulates a convoluted conspiracy true of the genre. Unlike its inspirations, however, the movie fumbles its narrative, relying on blunt exposition in the third act to explain what should have been revealed throughout by our amateur sleuths.
Leads Bale, Washington, and Margot Robbie’s chemistry sell this movie. Their friendship solidified whilst living inside a bubble in Amsterdam, a world away from the war, their responsibilities at home, and where, like in Casablanca, they can choose to be whomever they want to be.
Verdict: A messy narrative told unconventionally, with our charismatic leads shining despite it. 2.5 stars.
Luke McWilliams | themovieclub.net
