cdjh-81125

I won't lie, the first half of this movie was hard work to get through. The whole movie ends up feeling like a bit of an assembly cut and there's a serious lack of momentum in that first hour to the point where I was bored relentlessly. The kidnapping plot comes about in the flattest way imaginable and the key reveal that changes things isn't really explored to its fullest potential. The whole thing just feels like a massive drag and a lot of that comes down to the editing and Spike Lee's directing choices that robs the whole film of any sense of urgency.

Thankfully though the second half brings the whole thing back and all the things I didn't like was improved upon in every way. There's finally some real direction in the story and it's not only thrilling it's actually very tense. I initially didn't like Denzel Washington's character but they finally give you reasons to understand him and the way his arc concludes was actually quite wholesome. His scenes with ASAP Rocky are so well done to the point where I think they're the best in the whole movie and I like the fact that it never devolved into a full on action movie. It's got a great sense of place and identity and I can't remember the last time a movie made me want to visit somewhere like this film does in how showcases New York.

Highest 2 Lowest isn't a great movie in my opinion and that's a shame because I think every issue I have could be solved through editing. I wish it was more disciplined in its cutting and just wish it was more thrilling from the outset because that first half very nearly lost me. I must admit that I've not seen the original but this version makes me want to check it out. It's not Spike Lee's best movie but it's something that showcases all of his signature traits for better and for worse.

Caught Stealing is definitely a departure for Darren Aronofsky but in the least exciting ways. It's full of familiar tropes and story beats we've seen before but Aronofsky just doesn't do much of anything to differentiate it or raise the script above feeling so generic. It's entertaining here and there but overall there wasn't much of a personality on display.

Because I kept waiting for the film to come into its own and give me a hint as to why Aronofsky was drawn to this story and it honestly just never came. Every new character feels increasingly more one-noted and the whole plot that the Austin Butler character gets dragged into is disappointingly straight forward. Austin Butler is great and I liked the fact that the movie never lost sight of this being a truly normal character totally out of his depth and they never took a convoluted jump with his skill set which I appreciated. He has a self destructive nature that I never really felt came to ahead and where they leave him off didn't really feel that set up to be a satisfying conclusion Honestly it felt like it was trying to set up a sequel that I doubt is ever going to happen.

It's a really stacked cast over all but the colourful characters the trailers teased never really come about on screen and ended up feeling like a massive waste of some amazing talent. Zoe Kravitz has great chemistry with Butler but her character just fizzles out of the narrative after a while and she just ends up feeling like the standard girlfriend archetype. Matt Smith doesn't get much to do after an intriguing set up and Regina King is let down by the writing of a character who feels like she belongs in a different movie. Liev Schreiber and Vincent D'Onofrio end up feeling like the only ones who get real characters to play and the script actually capitalises on their potential. The energy of the whole film just shoots up every time they're on screen and a development surrounding those two characters raised the third act up quite a bit higher for me.

While not perfect the first half is where the movie most captivated me. It really does effectively put you in this period and it's where the chemistry between Butler and Kravitz is on full display and the film is all the better for it. It's got a lot of that signature Aronofsky griminess and the violence is a lot more effective than I expected it to be. But as soon as it's revealed what all these characters are fighting over it just never truly regained my interest. The pacing slows down as the few characters I like have their appearances cut down and there's very few surprises. It's well directed but the visuals are surprisingly flat and the pacing just lagged on more and more as the runtime went on.

Caught Stealing isn't a bad movie but it's middling in the most disappointing ways and sometimes that's so much worse. I kept waiting for the movie to do anything to set its self apart and not only did it never come but the more it went on the more surprised I was to see this many people of this calibre attached to something so without its own identity. I don't mind familiar beats but this film doesn't do anything interesting with them and nothing about the craft on display improves the final product. A departure for Aronofsky without a doubt but not a satisfying one.

Ari Aster is a director that I've been consistently frustrated by mainly because of his indulgent filmmaking style. There's no movie he's made so far that I don't either think is too long or feels longer than it actually is and I've found all of them to be slogs to get through to varying degrees. Eddington isn't totally innocent of this because it does feel dense to an indulgent degree but it's the first film of his that didn't feel like it was actively trying my patience. It's a unique experience with a subject matter that I wasn't sure I would enjoy seeing on film but I ended up being really wrapped up in Aster's totally singular vision for this movie.

COVID is something I'm still not totally sure I want to see portrayed on film so soon but I think Eddington examines it in an interesting way in a narrative I was constantly intrigued by. The script managed to evoke feelings from me that I'd almost forgotten from this time and even managed to evoke some of the very strange nostalgia I have for it. I think it's going to work very effectively a time capsule for this crazy period in history and for as long as the runtime is I think Aster says just about every thing you could possibly say about this period in it.

I love movies about despicable characters and this movie is filled with them none more so that Joaquin Phoenix who chews the scenery in a way I really enjoyed with a character who was utterly despicable in the most entertaining ways. I loved the scenes in which he goes head-to-head with Pedro Pascal and there petty rivalry is where the film got most of its laughs for me. It captures that feeling of small town America very well and the story goes in a direction I didn't expect but ultimately felt satisfied by. I think the 1st act starts of on just the right note for me and massaged me into Aster's usual slow pace very well and the 3rd act in particular went totally off the rails in a way that manages to feel unique even by Aster's standards. It's totally shocking and feels purposefully like a massive departure from everything before it and it concludes in a way that I didn't expect but felt totally right.

It's just my usual issues with Ari Aster's storytelling that resurface here in frustrating ways. I was never bored but the second act in particular really did grind to a halt for me but not just in how it's paced but in how surface level that section feels in particular. For as much as Aster is trying to say it does feel like he's taking on more than he can handle and a lot of aspects end up feeling very under explored. Particularly how the film comments on police brutality and those who protest it feels very murky and the Austin Butler character feels like a set up for more to come that just never materialises. I don't know what it is about Aster's style that affects the pace so much but with how much he seems to reinvent himself with every film I really hope it's something he strives to improve on in future.

I'm glad to say that Eddington is the first Ari Aster film to truly click with me and I'm kind of shocked that this was the film to finally do it. It's a very recent and still touchy part of history that I still think we're coming to terms with but this film says more successfully than I expected it to, even if I still think it bites of more than it can chew. It's got a roster of despicable characters that I loved seeing interact and a totally ridiculous 3rd act that I can't believe worked on me to the degree that it did. It's not absent my usual issues with his films but for the first time I'm actually excited to see what Ari Aster does next.