Review of Amsterdam

Really tried to like this and with a cast that stellar you can't be blamed for having high hopes. A renowned director with a lineup so star studded I almost forgot Taylor Swift was in it. It follows a story of three veteran, life long friends tangled in a political conspiracy, based on true events. You'd think that'd make for an enticing, tense drama but the movie has an almost cartoonish feel at times. There was no tension in a plot that heavily needed one. Alludes to having a message midway through but doesn't take it anywhere, not until the end. I wasn't invested in enough for the twist to feel climactic or care for the characters. The actors did a decent job, wasn't any one of them's best work since they didn't have the script to match their talent which is annoyingly painful to watch. Apparently most of it is all true events so you could maybe find solace in that to give the movie meaning. Something I also noticed is there's a lot of eye contact with the audience especially from Margot Robbie's character, can't say if it was a positive or not. It's messy too, I was confused whether it was a whodunnit, if it's about friendship and love, war movie, was political in the end; the pacing was all over with many side stories and quests.

It's just disappointing because it promised so much more. There are so many underlying topics it was addressing but all were explored skin-deep. It's over two hours long but the lack of depth and details made it feel like I just watched a summation of a short story. That a-list lineup deserved so much more, I'm surprised they managed to fit all of them in. I once again skipped legs to watch this and I'm now reassessing my life decisions and priorities. It's not bad, it's just... there's just nothing there.