JacFlu

Eddington is a brilliant, darkly funny satire on the state of American mass political psychology. I think a lot of reviewers, especially those outright dismissing the film, are missing the central message: Modern American politics, whether coming from a radical right or left perspective, are really just shields against/projections of individual failure, fear, and ego. The film places audiences in the middle of a town that becomes gradually engulfed in national pandemic politics, and various strands of propaganda. We see everything from their level, their perspective, and their fears become our fears, just like they likely truly were for the average audience member five years ago. However, as the film goes on, we realize that this is all truly the politics of ants, and that regardless of whether the sheriff or former mayor win election, the bigger players, the ones that actually steer and formulate these narratives, will always get what they want. This is embodied by the data mining center being built, regardless of each character's respective action, no matter how benign or horrific. This is a fantastic look at modern American madness, and the shallowness that embodies so much of our national political conversation.

If you want to see a few people embarrass themselves on a porch for around an hour, this is the film for you. There's two characters with no depth or personality, laughable acting, and essentially no plot to be found. Having this all be seen through the lens of a ring camera is incredibly gimmicky, but that doesn't mean it had to be so monotonous and dull.

The writing is truly terrible. While I admire the films comic book aesthetic and style of cinematography, almost a Saturday morning cartoon at times with its vibrancy, the characters have little depth. James Gunn apparently doesn't trust a modern audience to be able to infer something about a character through their actions alone. No, instead we need conversations between Lois and Clark that specifically and explicitly state that issues and conflicts with each other, ("I knew this wouldn't work out, I'm no good at relationships.") villains that spell out their entire motivations and backgrounds in spoon fed sentences, (The Engineers "I know Lex, I sacrificed my humanity for this," or Lex's horribly on the nose end monologue about how insecure and jealous he is of super man.) and the endlessly exposition filled sentences around the members of the Justice Squad, which while sometimes fun and compelling, still feels rushed and a little shoehorned in. The whole film in general just has too much going on, too much bloat, and I think this is potentially part of the reason this film feels like it was written for children. Gunn needed this film to be the perfect springboard for a revamped and reimagined cinematic universe, which meant he needed to cram in as much as he could in as tight of a time frame as possible. In order to do this, it's likely things that would've taken more time to develop, and could have if some of the fat was trimmed off, such as deep character relationships and personalities, were traded in from of pure spectacle and an overwhelming amount of exposition. It was fun to watch, and had a few very good moments, but I'm in no rush to watch it again. Oh and that last scene with Supergirl? Probably going to skip out on her film.