Megalopolis Is A Dumpster Fire Of Ideas - Spoilers!

Megalopolis is failing miserably at the box office and for good reason. This was never going to be a movie that got mass appeal. In fact, this is barely a movie that has any appeal. It's a film for Francis Ford Coppola and him alone. He poured his own money into this project and the results are messy at best. I attempt to break down the messages and meanings behind Megalopolis. It's not an easy task!
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Narrated by: Adam Olinger
Edited by: Adam Olinger

[@InfiniCalendar]

I’m convinced there comes a day when every legendary director just doesn’t have it anymore.

[@vikashkthakur]

Coppola had that day a long time ago

[@nicholasmacdonald1]

The real problem is when they quit working collaboratively and decide to do it all themselves. Coppola’s friend George Lucas should have been a cautionary tale. Coppola had a really good idea; but he needed an editor and a screenwriter to collaborate with him and steer him away from the parts that just didn’t work.

[@sister_bertrille911]

Ingmar Bergman would be an exception to that rule, but he stayed far away from Hollywood and knew when it was time to retire.

[@kayskaht2052]

Neil Blomkamp lost his mind after the success of District 9. Quiet as it's kept Jordan Peele has never been able to recreate the magic of Get Out again. I've got to agree with you! 💯

[@Mary_Puppins]

Megaflopolis is truly one of the movies of all time

[@Tha_Trigga]

If you only see one film this year, see Megalopolis. If you only see one film this year and you want to enjoy the experience? See anything else.

[@Randomaccount9470]

​@@Tha_Triggadayum 😂

[@notmyrealname9059]

(Spoiler but not really )Having the helpless baby trapped alone in time until he figures out how to say "Time Start" as the supposedly happy ending was the icing on the turd.

[@maleehab3964]

It was horrible!, we left the theater in the middle of the movie. Could not bear it anymore lol

[@tifftreads]

Same. lol. It was dreadful.

[@BaffiCatenaCanotta]

It was a struggle to make it to the end!!! One of the worst films I’ve ever seen

[@shalinalewis2957]

🎯🎯

[@To.me.my.X-Men.97]

🎯🎯

[@TalKScribe]

The first half was tedious and confusing. The second half was bizarre, unintentionally funny, and aggressively ham-fisted. But like with most movies, I bet this could have been improved a lot with better editing and a couple of re-shoots. Just to establish certain things like: What is megalon? Is it that weird float-y thing? When and how was it discovered, and how does it help build better futures? What was the Soviet satellite thing? How come we didn't see it crash, since that seems to have been an important plot point? What is the significance of its name, "Carthage", considering that the Romans dispatched with the Cartheginians centuries before the Catalinian crises that the move seems to be riffing on? Did we really need to see Shia LaBeef and that girl from Parks and Rec screwing each other so graphically and at length? Actually screw it, it was a dumpster fire. Too much terrible-looking CGI and not a thought in its brain.

[@Ixorpehc]

Another film that's heavy in style and grandiosity, but fails to be poignant and profound. Visions of the future from the intellectual elite don't really connect with ordinary people, the way movies like Ben Hur and Gladiator do.

[@kayskaht2052]

Brilliant comment! 🙌🏽 I agree wholeheartedly! 💯

[@carlosangel3647]

The failure of this movie is a better spectacle than the movie itself. And the best part is we don't have to buy a ticket to watch the spectacle!

[@Icarus11000]

At the end of the day, this movie is a mess. In the first half, there were a couple of ideas that weren't bad and were actually worth exexploring. But the second half falls apart completely with a lack of focus and clarity. Nothing in this movie feels like it has anything truly new or worthwhile to say. Another issue for me personally...it's just too boring. People who keep comparing this to Tommy Wiseau's The Room are overlooking the reasons why that movie was "so bad it's hilarious" and therefore can't be properly applied to this movie. Even judging this movie as it's own thing, it just doesn't go far enough in any way - content, performances, ideas, whatever - to be categorized as a so bad it's hilarious movie

[@harrisdaver]

I agree (with both paragraphs). It's definitely not 'The Room.' It's not unintentionally funny, let alone consistently unintentionally funny. There's moments where you might snicker because of the weirdness, but I think a lot of that is intentional. But you're not going to laugh at Driver's impenetrable monologues in the way you did Wiseau's. You can't do Megalopolis for Bad Movie Night.

[@MichaelMichael-us6wq]

You said that this needs like a extended version. Knowing Coppola I’m GUARANTEEING, he’s doing a Megalopolis Cut

[@buzzwithdrip6347]

He's not Ridley scott

[@doublep1980]

@@buzzwithdrip6347 Apocalypse Now has literally 4 different cuts.

[@buzzwithdrip6347]

@@doublep1980 wtf I didn't know

[@damonappel]

You mean..."The Mega Megalopolis cut"?🤔

[@doublep1980]

@@damonappel Megaflopolis Redux

[@anaalicia5029]

Titling it ‘New Rome’ might have made it a couple of more bucks -a lot of people love Ancient Rome

[@randomcenturion7264]

Maybe but even us Romaboos would find this annoying. And this is coming from a Caesar fan, this thing doesn’t recognise The legit concerns the Pompeian faction had.

[@anaalicia5029]

@@randomcenturion7264 of course -it would just be disappointing for everyone. The story of the first five Emperors (and the wives, like Livia) are more my style. That was crazy.

[@notmyrealname9059]

"Atlas drugged" would've worked too

[@mikielsahagun6054]

So basically everyone is like Esinburg in Batman V Superman in this movie?

[@harrisdaver]

The sad thing is, this isn't even the worst Fishburne movie in 2024. That's "Slingshot."

[@harrisdaver]

I also wonder how much of Megalopolis is dependent on us knowing who their actual Ancient Roman counterparts are, so we can understand what their ultimate plans/goals/fates are. This is not a defense of the movie, it's more a condemnation of it, but something I pondered. I'm sure some sites/channels will have a Top 10 Facts About Ancient Rome You Need To Know To Understand Megalopolis.

[@PerfidiousAdrian]

Pretentious: The Film

[@gemhay8896]

Awwww, I was looking forward for your review done in interpreted dance 😂😂😂

[@Aaron-ox8ye]

I'm glad you mentioned Dracula. That has to be one of the most underrated movies ever. Gary Oldman was a great Dracula. Would love to see you review that

[@kayskaht2052]

Yeesss!!! 🙌🏽🦇❤🧛

[@jerihelyleal6552]

Adam please watch The Godfather III, is not the I or II but is actually good. It simply got too much backlash at the time, but in retrospective in my humble opinion it is not a bad movie. BTW thanks for the review I definitely not watching Megalopolis.

[@anthonyscorziello8465]

100% agree. It's not great but I still enjoy it.

[@spaghettiman600]

BS that movie sucked… AND… it jumped the shark with that ridiculous helicopter murder scene. That was a multiverse movie, not canon as far as I am concerned.

[@kayskaht2052]

​@@spaghettiman600 I've never seen any of the Godfather movies!

[@thebrentrobinsonshow2882]

This movie was so awkward and confusing.

[@garrywalker6131]

Haven't seen it yet,but sounds like he's hoping for a big hit in 20 years from now with this one ! Wizard of Oz was a flop when it first came out!

[@bryandavismoviefan]

@@garrywalker6131 brilliance can take time to be recognized.

[@jodi2847]

Disney's banking on this for The Acolyte

[@azv343]

Numerically it was a flop but it was nowhere near as a flop as Megalopolis is. The Wizard of Oz recouped its production budget on its first run. But that's still considered a flop, in order for a film to "break even" it has to make twice its budget back, and in order to be considered a hit it has to at least triple its budget. Megalopolis won't even reach its 120 million budget in ticket sales, so it's pretty much guaranteed that it won't age well. Unless you can find an example in history where a film made back only 10% of its budget and then became a classic.

[@horrorfanandy4647]

@@azv343There are examples of that. This is not going to be one of them I predict.

[@spellegren]

Coppola is not a good surrealist, leave that for Lynch. Though Lynch seems to be done with major motion pictures. The closest we have in the mainstream is Denis Villeneuve, and I know he wouldn't touch this mess. I would love to see Lynch review it, I know he praised Coppola's commitment, but not much else.

[@kayskaht2052]

You read down with this comment! Damn! 😣

[@beastlyidiots9232]

As I watched this movie one thing kept coming up in my tiny, tiny brain...this movie looks great and there are some really nice shots throughout. However...(Lol) it's gotta be the lamest idea ever. There's no drama. There are some good lines in the script but once again...there is no story here. The ending just quickly ends, like he ran out of money and we're done. That's a wrap!

[@djoneforever]

One of the worse movies ever made, worse than Borderlands

[@novasite7795]

Sorry (not sorry), but every time you say Cesar I keep imagining Cesar from the Planet of the Apes movies. Now if this movie had THAT Cesar in it, I would go see it. But it doesn't so I won't. Great review Adam!

[@flizzight]

WTF is this movie? Its like a fever dream. Makes GODFATHER 3 look like a smash hit 😂

[@joshmckfuggles5710]

the fact he named the baby francis is hilarious since the baby is meant to symbolize the “futuuuure”

[@jasonmcmurtry7812]

So Megacroplis is now what Megaflopolis and Megacrapolis lol 😂

[@HevyMetlDave]

Megalon? Isn’t that a giant Japanese bug?

[@willspann9894]

Ok Adam, we now NEED your Godfather 3 review! Ive o ly seen it once, and personally, I just didn't care for it, for numerous reasons I can't list in a comment. Especially compared to the first two. You have to review it 😅

[@martintvedt9667]

Common misconception: It's actually "shot through the heart/and you're to BLAME" (rhymes with "name")

[@762Super]

I guess it gives love a bad name?😅

[@delugesofgrandeur]

@@762Super *NATE (rhymes with "late")

[@AT-sd9qq]

walkways? Like the thing George Costanza wanted?

[@JoeChillton]

The whole Megalon or whatever they build this thig outta just made me laugh so hard

[@shalinalewis2957]

Especially when it was on his face 😂

[@JoeChillton]

@shalinalewis2957 that was a very Neil Breen scene. Holy shit

[@harrisdaver]

I enjoyed the first half enough (I tend to forgive pretentiousness if it's at least enjoyable/entertaining/interesting) and thought it was, at the very least, comprehensible. Heavily metaphorical/allegorical/fabletastic, certainly, but I was with it. Not enamored with it, but on board. ... but the second half (I want to say pretty much everything after the Vestal scene) feels like Coppola decided to rush through what was probably 4 hours worth of material in an hour and change. I lost track of characters, what the characters were or represented before kind of fell apart, I couldn't make heads or tails of what the message was or wasn't or intended to be. And if there was method to its devolution into chaos and the decay of the world/society, I would have been okay with it. There's a way to do nihilism well, which I know isn't what this movie was trying to 'say,' but it said that better than Utopia Good! But instead, it feels like, as others have said, that there's a longer cut down the pipeline that feels more complete. And, to be honest, I would probably watch it - because I think there is /something/ to Megalopolis, but the theatrical cut was not it.

[@randomcenturion7264]

I bet Victor Salva loved this movie.

[@eddyrose8596]

This is the most hilarious review of this movie. A major applause for that. That said, I freak'n love this movie. But I can't knock your point of view for lack of understanding. You totally get it! We just didn't experience the same film. To me, it was visually stunning to watch. This was a highly stylized production that played in a unique way with its approach to narrative. The narrative purposely jumps from one major plot line to another, creating a fast tempo and illusion of time. A lot of of the characters are also meant to be caricatures standing in for thematic personalities. Entire scenes are meant to be taken as metaphor which also contribute to the dream-like state of this entire movie. Taken all into account, yes, it is a modern allegorical-tale and meant to be seen as such. It is a subconscious mind bender, visceral fantastique experience.

[@ndrose]

noone sees the irony that the red har guy keeps getting shot??

[@tifftreads]

I walked out 25 minutes in. It just felt tedious and disjointed.

[@deathscam7628]

Its coppolas rivers of fundament

[@bubsmp]

So loosely/vaguely Trump vs Biden as a movie and it bombed……..go figure.

[@Jimbo-123]

Speaking of John Voight, he's in "Reagan." And his makeup/de-aging is hilariously bad. (This is probably the 3rd I've brought this movie up because Adam should roast it)

[@rjg7112]

Francis Ford Coppola + plus all the money he needs + no studio oversight = “Megalopolis” Kylo Ren becomes a father in this one, and I’m happy for him.

[@TIG5574]

I just watched it tonight. I wanted to see it on IMAX because I heard the visuals were great. And it was no way it would be on IMAX after tonight or probably in most theaters. I was surprised to see 12 people actually there and sat down to watch one of the most bizarre POS I've seen in a long long time. The characters seem like they were all on cocaine the entire time and there were so bizarre choices I wouldn't know where to begin. And once it got to the circus scenes, the movie gets more ridiculous from there and never recovers. It felt jarring and disjointed the whole way through. I enjoyed the bits of comedy in it, but so much of ir felt like an intentional one. I went in with pretty low expectations and still came out very disappointed. There is tons more I can say and fo into details but Adam basically hit the big highlight (pr lowlights?). It's not the worst movie ever, but certainly in the last few years. I admire Coppola for being so passionate to put his heart in this in his freaking 80s. But maybe someone needed to be there to give him some constructive criticism but I doubt anything would've saved this mess.

[@primalplasma]

The Wow Platinum scenes are worth the price of admission.

[@RobinJohnstonphotography]

But where do we go for the interpretative dance critique?

[@Fumblingthroughlifeonline]

They should have called the element Megatron

[@concernedcitizens4110]

Ridley Scott, Coppola and perhaps Zach Snyder are directors that made couple of good movies in their heyday but falls apart when they are trying to do their own ‘thing’.

[@762Super]

I can't believe the same director did AN. Wow.

[@DavidBrown-fs7ml]

No desire at all to watch it. Would rather watch reruns of The Golden Girls.

[@shalinalewis2957]

I wish that's what I'd done lol.

[@WitchHunterSiegfried]

14:00 IIRC it's been confirmed he was infact using weed while working on it.

[@haasepete]

Hey Adam, how did it compare to Matrix Resurrections? That scene where he's about to step off the building reminded me of it

[@1221garc]

Sorry for whoever spent time and money on it

[@Jimbo-123]

Paused the video to give you kudos for the Waffle House joke 😂😂 Okay, back to the video..

[@brucegrossman3531]

That's why I only go in the morning.

[@Jimbo-123]

@@brucegrossman3531 true. If you go anytime after dinner, you're looking for trouble

[@aezee5138]

It's a Coppola pet project. Not my bag. Enjoyed his Godfather series & Apocalypse Now.

[@vmrsh5339]

Forget megacrapolis watch Devara instead much fun..

[@edwardong8660]

Great review! I often wonder why most people think of 'Dracula' as a good Coppola movie (to me, it's more style over substance). Personally, I don't think he put out anything watchable after 'Apocalypse Now,' and that's way back in 79!

[@908peruvian]

reminds me of the time I went to see Cosmopolis. i left like wtf was that nonsense

[@Deafwing]

Flip, I was really looking forward to interpretive dance

[@romelmunoz7957]

Serious question for you Adam: If this movie was filmed with a dry conventional visual narrative without the flashy "look at me" effect tricks it would be more or less interesting...?? It seems to me Coppola was more into the spectacular visuals than anything judging by the trailers.

[@AdamDoesMovies]

If someone like Christopher Nolan directed this, I think it would be far more palatable but the story is still way to ambitious for the runtime.

[@romelmunoz7957]

@@AdamDoesMoviesthat's what happens when you're still trying to accumulate ideas since the eighties 😅

[@Hermes4Apollo]

In a nutshell - This movie is a long explanation of why you have such an amazing set of teeth in 2024 . You are the reason this movie was made :)

[@jb8331]

This is the new Prometheus- a basic- truly basic set of philosophical concepts half baked in a messy and pretentious production that simpletons hailed as a work of genius. I will say Shia LaBeouf's performance was the only thing keeping me awake during Megalopolis' six hour runtime

[@themovieguy2095]

This movie is so unpleasant to even look at.😵‍💫

[@Digibeatle09]

Some of you will be familiar with "The Greatest Show on Earth" - edged out "High Noon" for best movie Oscar in 1952 (wtf !) but - anyway - it contains a train crash - Megalopolis - on the other hand - is, itself, a "train crash"...............................

[@CynicalMisanthrope-b3p]

Sooo it's like Sucker Punch, but more pretentious.

[@solanis369]

No Sucker Punch made a lot more sense than this film

[@mikejorsch304]

Grace Randolph must have been given alot for the postive review

[@shinjiikari1989]

I watch the clip on the beam, it did look like raw uncut film

[@primalplasma]

Do yourself a favor and skip The Godfather Part 3. It ruins the entire trilogy if you watch it. If you avoid it, Part 1 and Part 2 will remain masterpieces in your mind.

[@spaghettiman600]

I don’t watch movies like this anymore. David Lynch films are the exception, but I’m so over weirdness now lol.

[@Fumblingthroughlifeonline]

Good on Jon Voight sticking with trump & not giving in to the corporate forced pandering.

[@shawklan27]

The film looks pretentious and weird. But i still kind of want to watch it?

[@ibarf24]

I have not seen the film, but man (as per your comments on him) I actually think the Jon Voight casting and the character he's been made to play, might be just to show that "HEY IF I GIVE A PERSON ENOUGH MONEY AND ROLE THEY WILL DANCE FOR ME AND THEY ARE FULL OF SH***T" IDK what Jon's financial status is now, but all those political views and shi***t talking about "woke Hollywood" immediately went out the window when offered a major role and a nice payday 😂😂😂

[@AdamDoesMovies]

Yeah, I had a few theories about it. It's also possible he was told that Shia's character was the "good guy" and he never thought about it again. It's also possible that he doesn't give two shits and just took the role without reading the script or once thinking about it afterwards. He strikes me as that type of guy.

[@brucegrossman3531]

Coppola said he hired people who he knew pissed off movie goers. Shia and Voight

[@LaurindaBellinger]

Godfather III is worth a watch at least once.

[@AzariahPage]

When is your the wild robot review coming out?

[@AdamDoesMovies]

Probably won't happen until it hits streaming. For whatever reason, my animated reviews almost always do terrible on here. So i'm going to hold off until I can watch it with the family. Too many other things to cover.

[@AzariahPage]

@@AdamDoesMovies okay that’s understandable but if you don’t mind me asking what did you think of the movie?

[@AdamDoesMovies]

I haven't seen it :( I can only get to so many movies a week and I'm prioritizing based on my personal preferences and what I think audiences want to see. Since I'm pretty confident I'll enjoy The Wild Robot with my family, I'm saving that until it hits streaming.

[@AzariahPage]

@@AdamDoesMovies oh okay that’s fine I actually just back from see it an hour ago and all I have to say is that I truly think the movie will go down as a Mondern classic think of films like the iron giant or wall-e but for the new generation.

[@AdamDoesMovies]

@@AzariahPage I've heard nothing but great things!

[@extraterrestrialfascisti7625]

If a movie needs explaining beyond the film itself it is not good a movie.

[@TriforcePlayer2]

Jon is an actual actor.

[@FritzTheCat_1030]

As film fans, we always have a knee-jerk reaction to any hint of "studio interference" in a movie. But this movie was a perfect example of exactly why studios sometimes need to interfere. There were ideas scattered throughout this complete mess of a movie that could have been interesting. But the entire thing needed to be reined in about 800%.

[@shalinalewis2957]

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@Tha_Trigga]

Holy Damn "Nonsensicality"😅😅

[@jasonsmith530]

Haven’t seen it but the spoilers are fine

[@MrDman21]

So basically this movie is about Hollywood? 🤣

[@susanmctavish6639]

Even if it were good, it's just not the kind of movie people are going to the theater for anymore.

[@ct92404]

They said the same thing about "Oppenheimer", and yet it was massively successful. People want good movies, everyone is getting tired of comic book movies

[@controversialverbal3792]

I love when they portray Trump as a leftist politician.

[@reubennoneya2413]

So like your doing?

[@bryandavismoviefan]

Fine. Go watch Men or Lamb then. You just don't get this film....

[@RESOURCECONTROLLER]

spoilers halloween shatner meyers kd his wife. abstain = no overpop

[@jamesc6363]

Sometimes I think movies like this are pumped out as a joke. I haven't seen it yet, but it's probably full of what you'd call predictive programming and sick little easter eggs that the puppeteers of this world tease us with. Don't pay attention to them, it's all your problem when it happens. Pay attention and everyone will call you names.

[@ct92404]

So you're one of those tin foil hat, flat Earther types?

[@shantoreywilkins651]

🎉🃏📈🌪️🏆🏆 #ilikeit

[@ricardorodriguez5215]

I knew this was going to flop when I saw Jon Voight, Shia LaBeouf and Aubrey Plaza were in it. Three of the worst actors. IMO.

[@Venturi11]

Your review is more insufferable than the movie

[@mikeainsworth9861]

It is pretty simple. The movie takes the Cataline Conspiracy of 63 BCE that hastened the downfall of the Roman Republic and superimposes it on an alternate New York. All the characters are named after participants in that event. Many of the actions are directly drawn from it, such as when the character Clodius in a dress disrupts the political system. The actual Clodius did that by dressing in drag and crashing a woman only party to have sex with the wife of Julius Caesar. OK. Almost no ticket buyer will know this unless critics help explain it instead of being so proud of being clueless.

[@moderatecanuck]

Just saw a video that claimed most people didn’t get it because we can’t see our own decline blah blah

[@harrisdaver]

We've been inundated with stories of nothing but our decline for the past 20+ years - probably 50+ years. "The Fall of the American Empire" is not breaking new ground. Besides, the allegory only works if we have our own Cesar - a true visionary ushering us into utopia. Who's that supposed to be? Musk? I consider this, oddly, a more humanistic Fountainhead/Atlas Shrugged.

[@reubennoneya2413]

So like your doing?