scandinavianmail

I really like the Square so I was expecting Triangle of Sadness to be similarly brilliant take on wealth. Didn't quite get what I expected.

Triangle of Sadness never really finds its own voice as it first introduces a lot of oblivious characters, who all come across as thin stereotypes we have seen many times over in countless movies, and then puts them into situations that are what you'd expect them to get into. There is the dumb and jealous male model and his flirtatious girlfriend. There is the rich and loud Russian. There is the drunk captain. There is the prim head of ship staff. There is the lovely British couple who got rich selling grenades.

Making matters worse, there isn't much plot which Director Östlund tries to make up by stretching each scene to extreme lengths. The epitome of this approach is the seasickness interlude that had everyone throwing up for over 10 minute. None of it matters, just like the characters don't matter.

After what feels like an eternity, the story drifts to a dead end that is lifted straight from an old Amanda Bynes comedy. At least that poor teenage vehicle knew how to tie its own loose ends whereas Östlund abruptly abandons his characters as if having got enough of everyone.

Amsterdam sticks to its title about halfway through, and had it somehow found a way to stay on that track, it would probably have been one of the strongest movies this year. Unfortunately, right about there it hastily switches to a new plot that abandons the characters and just wants to create its own haphazard version of a disputed and forgotten part of American history. None of that ever works, just clunkers on with apparent disinterest from the people tasked to deliver it. The story that came before was just much more fun.

As expected, acting is all fine. Christian Bale especially gives a notable performance. However, the amount of recognizable talent showing up without much to do or anywhere to go is ultimately distracting. At least they knew what to do with Taylor Swift, and something similar should have been in mind for the rest of needlessly drafted big names.

There was so much going on, that it was difficult to understand who was the titular "gone for good". Corben's melodramatic plotting that originally took place in New Jersey fits poorly with heavy-handed social commentary on French immigrants, social work, Neo-nazism and whatever else thrown into the mixer, all struggling to advance the story and drifting the focus away from it.

Casting is another problem. Finnegan Oldfield in the lead is stuck with one expression on his face, and his chemistry with Nailia Harzoune doesn't register at all. The only standout is Guillaume Gouix but that only makes things worse as his storyline is an unrelated add-on to fill in the runtime.

Towards the end, the plot becomes increasingly jarring and haphazard. Then it all crawls to a lazy wrap-up, with not much feeling for the surviving cast members that pretend everything was solved.