In an alternate ‘American Republic’, revolutionary architect Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) freezes time after detonating a building, which is witnessed by the mayor’s daughter, Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel). At a public debate, Cesar’s grand plans of building a futuristic utopian city is challenged by the old guard headed by mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). Soon Cicero embarks on a smear campaign against Cesar, using the death of Cesar’s wife and the mysterious disappearance of her body against the would-be new leader of New Rome City.

Francis Ford Coppola comes from the New Hollywood film movement, which changed filmmaking while positioning the director above the studio. Coppola’s back catalogue includes movies such as Apocalypse Now (1979), which went through troubled and unruly productions that were ultimately praised, given time. Coppola’s lavish and operatic sensibilities came to the fore with Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) and producing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), utilising old school Hollywood in-camera special effects of the movie’s retro setting, with over the top, heightened acting.

Written, directed and produced by Coppola, Megalopolis, enjoys all of his faults. A troubled vanity project 40 years in the making, the end result is a muddled, confused, inconsistent and incomprehensible mess in terms of story, special effects and acting. The actors wrote their own lines and scenes, resulting in a patchwork talent showcase with no regard to the larger cinematic universe around them.

Verdict: A blunt allegory of the fall of Rome in a failed emulation of a Baz Luhrmann opera. Half a star.

Luke McWilliams, themovieclub.net. Viewed at Dendy cinemas.