#49 AMSTERDAM

Starring Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, timothy Olyphant, Andrea Riseborough, Taylor Swift, Rami Malek and Robert De Niro. Written and directed by David O. Russell. Music by Daniel Pemberton. Running time 134 minutes. Budget $80 million.

In this day and age of super hero blockbusters and action franchises, it's great that Hollywood, still makes films that try to do something different like this, perhaps it helps if you're David O. Russell, the man behind Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees, American Hustle, The Fighter, Joy and Silver Lining Playlist. It's just a shame the end results are a little dull. 

The story sees three American friends, two soldiers (Harold Woodsman - a lawyer-to-be (John David Washington), Burt Berendsen - a doctor (Christian Bale), and Valerie Voze - a rich socialite nurse and avant-garde artist (Margot Robbie) meet and bond during WWI after the first two are injured in battle. After the war they travel to Amsterdam and live a glorious live together until Burt decides to return to his wife in New York and Valerie disappears from their lives with no warning. 

The film picks up the action 15 years later, with Harold and Burt still friends and working to help war veterans in New York. When their old commanding officer dies in mysterious circumstances, the pair are asked to investigate his death and it's not long before the two men are framed for the murder and on the run from a dangerous secret fascist organisation. Chased and hounded by both the police and the proto-Nazis, the pair's search for truth reunites the three friends and exposes a deadly conspiracy that could lead to the downfall of the Presidency.

This is a gorgeously mounted and beautiful looking film, the cast, ALL of the cast of very well known actors, all at the top of their game, bring their A-Game, and seem to go out of their way to out act their fellow actors. All that is except for the three leads who are all excellent! Their chemistry together is a delight, and Margot dazzles with a beauty and energy that is breathtaking. Meanwhile, the set designs, the costumes, the art direction and indeed everything else is just superb as is the direction. The trouble is that despite being packed to the gills with so much good, the film is somewhat underwhelming and, I'm sorry to say, a little flat. The plot is also extremely labyrinthine in structure, and you're in danger of getting lost unless you keep copious notes. 

As the conspiracy unfolds, great actors are rolled out until Robert De Niro breezes in and shows how acting royalty does it. 

I wish I'd enjoyed this more, it has so much going for it, but sadly I left somewhat unmoved by it all. 

This gets a 9/10 for all the production aspects of this beautiful, glorious looking film, but sadly a 7/10 for overall enjoyment.