Amsterdam

There are filmmakers out there that can be a virtual hit and miss, and then there are those that perennially score big time with every film. However, "Amsterdam" was a somewhat of a miss for its writer/director David O. Russell which is usually a consistent hit. 

This is 1933, and during these times, two friends, Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale) and Harold Woodman (John David Washington) witness a murder, are framed for it, and ultimately uncover one of the most outrageous plots in American history. They soon meet up with Valerie Voze (Margot Robbie) in Amsterdam to avoid the police and live their lives out there for a while. While in Amsterdam, Burt feels compelled to move back to the states because of his missing his wife, Beatrice (Andrea Riseborough0, even though they are estranged. Burt soon finds himself in charge of a war reunion and, in an attempt to correct his good name because of his accusation of this murder, he strives to enlist a very well known general named Gil Dillenbeck (Robert De Niro) to give a speech at the event in order to clear his name. After a point, all hell breaks loose and is anyone going to come out of this clean?

Others to round out the cast are Alessandro Nivola as Detective Hiltz, Anya Taylor-Joy as Libby Voze, Chris Rock as Milton King, Michael Schoenaerts as Detective Lem Getweller, Michael Shannon as Henry Norcross, Mike Myers as Paul Canterbury, Rami Malek as Tom Voze, Zoe Saldana as Irma St. Clair, Timothy Olyphant as Taron Milfax, Taylor Swift as Liz Meekins and Mel Fair as patient Wayne.

This was directed with careful precision by David O. Russell ("Spanking the Monkey" '94, "Flirting with Disaster" '96, "Three Kings" '99, "I Heart Huckabees" '04, "The Fighter" '10, "Silver Linings Playbook" '12, "American Hustle" '13, "Accidental Love" '15, "Joy" '15) plus shorts. Even though his direction has been a bit more delineated, this was still staged and paced amazingly well. Of course, Russell using a good number of cast repeatedly certainly helps in his endeavor of producing the right feel of a film. Where there are misses in this is the writing by Russell (same resume as listed prior except "The Fighter" and "Accidental Love"). First of all, this was way too long-in-the-tooth for this film and many other films in general. I kept waiting, in many scenes, to just cut to the chase. Secondly, until approximately half way through the film, it just meandered and jumped a bit too much. Some of the scenes I became a bit confused with. Was this a total wash. No, not at all. There were many scenes that excelled well, especially after about half the film. Will Russell be in the running come Oscar time? Probably not, but this doesn't shoot down his film. It simply just needed a little more polish. Bad day at the laptop? Not sure, but I'm sure he'll review this film after it's done its rounds and realize what he may have to do to make sure his next film sings. 

Even if this is not one of Russell's better efforts, assuming you're a Russell fan, you'll still love this. And who wouldn't love to see a film with a cast this exemplary? If you're in love with an up, close and personal format, this is presented in IMAX.

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                                         Rated: R                                                  134mins.