Amsterdam (2022)

[Enigma X]

The story is based on the Business Plot, a 1933 political conspiracy in the US, and follows three friends—a doctor, a nurse, and a lawyer—who are caught in the mysterious murder of a retired US general. 

I know this movie was considered a box-office bomb but I loved it. One of the best I have seen in some time. Bale, Washington, and Robbie (along with the rest of the cast) were great. What I loved most about this was the friendship between the three main characters.

[Milburn Stone]

We loved it, too. Amazing cast, mostly playing roles unlike any we're accustomed to seeing them play. I remember some review calling the plot an incoherent mess. I don't think so. Incoherent messes don't generate as much suspense as this film did.

[Enigma X]

I was surprised I liked it so much. I am normally not a fan of David O. Russell. I am sad that more people aren't talking about it.

[Milburn Stone]

There was an article somewhere that said pretty much every movie that wasn't in the MCU or DCU tanked this fall. We can only hope Amsterdam finds an audience in streaming. Word of mouth may help it. We only thought to watch it because friends of ours told us they loved it.

[Hanahope]

I find it interesting how much history does repeat itself but most never know that.  The movie was good, but the plot was confusing at first.  And the title hid the basic story plot too.  

that said, the acting was very good by all.

[revbfc]

I watched this knowing nothing about it, but got really intrigued when it became obvious it was loosely based on the Business Plot.  What puzzles me is that the real story was fantastic enough without having to create a whole new one.

[tres bien]

I watched this movie because of the reviews here. David O Russell always assembles a top cast and this movie is beautifully done.

The first half of the movie was better than the second (I thought it dragged a bit) but overall I thought it was a good story and I thought Christian Bale had a cool young Al Pacino vibe

Edited January 28, 2023 by tres bien

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 1/28/2023 at 4:04 PM, tres bien said:

I thought Christian Bale had a cool young Al Pacino vibe

Between the eye and the voice, he was all Peter Falk to me.

[SlovakPrincess]

Holy hell was this a frustrating movie - frustrating because it could have been a great suspense thriller / mystery with some quirky, amusing characters.  Instead, they went for maximum quirk and then a preachy tell-don't-show voiceover at the end instead of trusting the audience to understand the movie's message.  It's not until very late in the film that we meet DeNiro's pivotal character or get some real clues about the overarching mystery / conspiracy.  

Harold's character isn't developed enough (which is nuts, he's one of the main three protagonists).  The backstory of how Valerie, Harold and Burt meet during WWI is interesting, though it seemed like the movie was going to say something profound about the horrible, disfiguring injuries suffered by soldiers ... and instead we get slapstick with Burt's prosthetic eye popping out (why?!!).   The buildup to the mystery with Taylor Swift's character is good and her murder is a surprise ... but then the move treads water for a while.  The subplot with Burt's awful wife and also his flirtation with the nice medical examiner were kind of a waste of time (and of Zoe Saldana, who got barely anything to work with in the script).  And I know it was set in the 20s, but they needed to cool it with the old-timey brown filter on every scene.  

This could have been good, but the script needed some serious revision, they needed to pick a different tone for the story they were trying to tell, and they needed to let the suspense and mystery unfold in a satisfying and logical fashion.