Starring: Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Robert De Niro, Rami Malek, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Zoe Saldaña, Taylor Swift, Timothy Olyphant, and Ed Begley Jr.
Grade: A-
“What’s the Gestapo?”
“Yeah, you don’t wanna know.”
Summary
It is said in a caption that “A lot of this really happened”.
In New York in 1933, physician and surgeon Dr. Burt Berendsen (Bale) works in his office fixing up injured guys like himself from World War I. Most of it is focused on their faces. Burt himself has a glass eye, as he lost his real eye fighting in France. In addition, he’s constantly been at odds with the medical board for trying to make new medicines. However, they needed new medicines that didn’t exist yet just to get through the day with the pain and the nerves. A lot of the time, he would test the medicine himself to varying results. Because of his war injuries, Burt had a back brace he hated. As he puts it on, his secretary Shirley expresses that she thinks they’re going to be shut down because of Burt’s exploits. He walks by some patients and says they don’t need to pay yet while Shirley relays messages about how his parents can’t make the holiday, Herb Getz was calling about some ear drops, and attorney Harold Woodman (Washington) called to meet him at a specific address. Right away, Burt goes to meet Harold, his best friend from the war. Harold talks about a new case he’s on that’s particularly important and how a lot of people depend on the business they share together. He also says this case is important to the both of them specifically. Harold speaks on vague things like the annual gala, the event being important for the veterans to attend to enjoy themselves and be remembered, and something about a certain procedure. Harold then stops as he sees the flowers Burt brought for his wife Beatrice (Andrea Riseborough). Just then, Liz Meekins (Swift) interrupts and asks Harold if Burt can perform this unknown procedure, and Harold assures her he can do it. Liz is the daughter of Bill Meekins (Begley Jr.), a man Burt admires very much. Burt brings up how Bill is supposed to speak at their reunion this year and starts to wonder if they are meeting Bill there.
Unfortunately, Liz explains how her father came back yesterday on a boat but doesn’t go into specifics, so Burt agrees to take a look at him. All three go into a room, and a wooden coffin is brought in with a dead Bill inside. Burt is in shock because he was supposed to speak at the gala. The lady says they have two hours before the embalmer comes. Immediately, Liz asks if he’s willing to investigate the body because she’s not buying that he died of natural causes as he was a healthy man. She doesn’t believe anyone in her family and wants an autopsy. Though Burt hates autopsies, Harold convinces him to because Bill “Quiet and Still” Meekins is the reason they met since he formed their regiment. Liz then asks if Burt will sing with her because Bill used to love when he would do it back in the day. All three break out in song for a bit before the lady who works there reminds them of their two-hour deadline. Liz tells Burt to do the autopsy and to meet her at Minters Restaurant after 5PM to give her the details on his findings. Burt asks about the two-hour deadline, so Liz reveals they’re at the mortician and they’re going to put Bill in the ground, which seems weird as to why Burt wouldn’t already know that just by entering the building but whatever. Anyway, fellow veteran Milton King (Rock) interrupts to remind Harold of the implications of Bill’s situation being a white guy in a wooden box and how Harold is going to get in trouble first because he’s black. Undeterred, Harold says they need to get the former leader of their regiment into the truck. The men wheel Bill out and do the autopsy with medical examiner and friend Irma St. Clair (Saldaña) with them. She’s done at least two autopsies this month while Burt has done two his entire life. One was to prove he didn’t leave a clamp on someone’s small intestine and the other was to remove a clamp he did leave on someone’s small intestine.
During the autopsy, Harold tries to play wingman for Burt by saying Irma should get coffee with him, but Milton butts in and says Harold should go with her instead. Harolds shuts it down because they are just friends. Going back to Burt’s situation, Harold talks about how Burt’s wife Beatrice wouldn’t stand up for Burt to her family and how they haven’t lived together in over a year, causing Burt to interject because this is a private matter. A lady walks in and rejects Irma’s paperwork, adding that the police are waiting for Bill’s body to return to the mortuary. When Irma argues they’ll be done as soon as they start, the lady demands Harold and Milton leave the room. Despite Burt mentioning how they’re veterans, Irma just has them wait at McGee’s downstairs. Together, Burt and Irma go through with the autopsy, though Burt has trouble at first because he’s still close to the situation. They discuss Irma’s relationship status, and it turns out her man left. She’s fine with it though, as “true love is based on choice, not need. Do you need your wife, or do you choose your wife?”. The second one is the one that truly matters. Choice matters over need. When Burt admits he doesn’t like to be alone, Irma passes his situation off as a need. The two go deep into Bill’s stomach and find an unusual color within the liquid stemming from it. It had to have been given to him over a period of time, though it’s hard to tell how long. Since he just got back from Europe, there’s a good chance it happened to him there. Next, Irma closes up the body and says she’ll take more blood samples, and she’ll have the news for him tomorrow and will bring it by his office. In closing, she mentions that Harold has been talking to her about Burt’s situation, and Burt deserves better but followed the “wrong God home”. This bothers Burt because Harold is talking behind his back.
Upon leaving, Burt brings it up to Harold and Harold doubles down, rooting it in fact. For instance, Burt is bringing flowers to Beatrice, but she won’t even let Burt in his own apartment. He goes on about how Burt’s in-laws hate that they’re friends and they work together, but Burt doesn’t care about any of that calling it “Park Avenue garbage”. Harold argues that he cares a little bit, which is how they get him. He relates this to the drop of blood from the cut Burt got during the war before Harold stabbed that German soldier. The cuts clouded his eye, which is how he lost it. The same thing is happening here. The two get to Minters, but Liz runs out the door as soon as they get there. They chase after her and tell her they found something suspicious, but now, she’s trying to get out of it because she talked to a friend named Mr. Voze (Malek) and he said she has to be careful. It’s dangerous and she wants to drop it. She insists Voze is a friend of the family, and he was just cautioning her. She does ask what they found though, with Harold stating Bill might have been poisoned and asked how this may have happened. As she wonders if someone is watching her, and we see Tarim Milfax (Olyphant) looking at them from inside of a public building, we can decipher Liz stating, “They had interests in the alliance and he knew that, but he wasn’t gonna go along with it”. Apparently, Bill also saw something terrible, and they knew he was going to tell. When they try and figure out what Bill saw, Tarim pushes Liz into the street, and she’s run over by a car. Next, Tarim tells everyone in the crowd that Burt and Harold did it. When they check on her, the car door open and hits Burt, knocking his glass eye out momentarily. Tarim excites the mob by insisting Burt and Harold did it and pointing out Harold holding her purse, so everyone thinks he robbed her too. They throw the accusations right back while making it known that Liz was their client, prompting a scuffle where a cop shows up and starts open firing right away.
It forces Burt and Harold on the run.
Going back to 1918 in New York, a younger and fresh-faced Burt asks Beatrice’s parents Augustus (Casey Biggs) and Alvelia (Dey Young) why they want him to go to their favorite tree and get bark in the Argonne Forest where they are blowing people up. They argue it will be honorable, with Beatrice adding he’ll fit in better when he has more medals. Augustus talks about how he’ll fit in on Park Avenue and how people respect military service. When he brings up the possibility of being killed, Alvelia says he shouldn’t think that way. In France in 1918, Burt, Harold, and Milton are in the same regiment, and they’re led by Bill. Some officer is getting in Harold’s face, and Bill puts a stop to it. After meeting Burt, he tells him he brought him on as a medical officer for this reason. Bill has Burt ask Harold why they’re in a stockade, and Harold admits it’s because of insubordination. It’s because they got a bunch of racist officers, and they refused to continue until they replaced him with someone good. Bill brought in Burt because he’s decent and respectful. Harold asks Burt if he’s someone who will let him bleed out, forcing him to potentially shoot Burt in the back, but this is not the case. Respectfully, Burt is the son of a mechanic from Elmira, he’s married, he’s half Catholic, half Jewish, he’s a doctor, he has a practice on Park Avenue, and “I think that my in-laws sent me here to get rid of me”. This is enough to gain Harold’s trust, and they agree to look out for each other. Following this, the group puts on French uniforms because the American soldiers don’t want to be seen with them. Later, they are terribly wounded on the battlefield and are brought into a hospital in a bloody scene. The French nurse Valerie Bandenberg (Robbie) tends to their wounds and keeps all the shrapnel and bullets, which angers the workers. As she works on Harold’s facial scarring, a priest walks in with some people and yells at Valeria for keeping the metal and calls it blasphemous for some reason. Harold takes her side and starts yelling back at them, prompting all the other patients joining in and yelling at the priest until he leaves.
They celebrate, and Valerie kisses Harold on the cheek, offering to buy him a drink. It turns out she’s not French, so this makes it a bit easier. Harold accepts but Burt is a bit bothered because of their pact. Plus, Milton is disappointed because she’s white.
Harold and Valerie share a drink in the back office, as Valerie smokes out of her pipe. In the voiceover, she states, “When you see someone, and you really see them, you see the kid that used to be them. You see the part of them that’s vulnerable”. Apparently, Harold and Valerie had this connection from the start. Now that the war is over, Harold wants to live in Europe and be free, and she recommends it as she’s been doing the same. He asks what she does with the shrapnel she extracts from their bodies, a question we all want an answer to, but she wants something from him in a trade before she reveals the answer. She wants “something beautiful, something to live for”. In a sly move, Harold says he’s looking at that right now. As Burt pops his head over to listen in, Harold brings up how much shrapnel she got out of his body, but Valerie says she got more from Burt. Just then, Burt uses this as his opportunity to interrupt and to remind Harold about their friendship pact, and Valerie pours him a drink. Harold tells him about her proposition to find out where the shrapnel goes, so Burt suggests “a nonsense song”. This is where they put a bunch of random phrases into a hat and each person pulls one out. With the three terms they get, they make a song out of it. Burt gets “The red sun”, Harold gets “some grapefruit”, and Valerie gets “the handkerchief”. They sing it in French and share a laugh together. Immediately following this, Valerie shows the two all the stuff she has made with the shrapnel and gun powder including a slew of creative art pieces, a tea kettle, and a hairbrush. Afterwards, Burt gets the bandages off his missing eye and asks her what they can do. Valerie knows some benefactors in the hospital in Amsterdam that will give him a new eye. Talking about the trip and having to go through France, Valerie brings up how she had to stab a guy and hit a lady with a brick a couple of years ago, but there shouldn’t be a problem with Burt and Harold alongside her. Plus, she’s a lot better at forging documents.
With this, they start their trek to Amsterdam.
The three meet with Valerie’s friend Paul Canterbury (Myers) of Canterbury Glass and his American partner Henry Norcross (Shannon) to buy a glass eye for Burt. Paul has a glass eye himself and offers a lifetime supply of glass eyes for Burt since he’s friends with Valerie. Henry interjects to say they’ve been friends with Valerie’s family through international business for many years. They have “kept her safe on her adventure and in return, she’s helped serve the good of the world”. Confused, Harold asked how she’s done this, but Henry explains it’s simply because of her attending “various dinners and functions and telling us what she’s learned about banks and troop movement, so on and so forth”. Burt assumes they’re spies, but Paul doubles down on working for the glass company and Henry assures them he works for the Department of the Treasury. In reality, they are both spies. Paul is MI6 Intelligence and Henry is US Naval Intelligence. Changing the subject, they talk about their birding hobby and how they’d be more than willing to pay to fix Burt and Harold’s faces, whatever cosmetic healing they might need, and what they may need to have a good life in Amsterdam. They will call Burt and Harold when they need them “because there will come a time to say “enough” to these madmen who create this war we cannot make any sense of”. This baffles Burt and Harold because they were under the assumption that this was the war to end all wars, but Valerie says it’s because “the dream repeats itself since it forgets itself. That’s why it repeats itself”. The bad part will come again, but the good part is now in Amsterdam. Later, Valerie takes Burt and Harold to the apartment they’ll stay at. Paul and Henry organized it. The place looks a bit decrepit, but Burt loves it.
This was the best time of their lives, and they were enjoying themselves and really getting accustomed to Amsterdam and all the fun to be had. Valerie fit in like a glove with Burt and Harold, so the pact the two men held together eventually stretched to include her as well. The trio became the best of friends.
Valerie would work on her art and use them for inspiration, and Burt had his new glass eye. They helped disfigured veterans passing through town, and they went dancing all the time. Even so, Burt decides one day that he has to go back to America to see Beatrice because he is still married and he’s a doctor on Park Avenue. This part of his life can’t be forgotten about. Harold and Valerie don’t want him to go because everything is so perfect, but Burt is the only one being realistic because this can’t last forever. Plus, he missed Beatrice even though her and her family sent him off to war. He tells the two how he first met her at a charity event at medical school, and he thought she was the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. They danced and had fun all night, and he didn’t know she was the daughter of the man who gave him the scholarship. In addition, he didn’t want Burt to be with his daughter because he was half Jewish. Burt loves Harold and Valerie and considers their friendship to be the most important thing in his life, but he can’t forget about Beatrice. With this, he goes back to New York.
In 1919 in New York, he doesn’t receive the welcoming he was hoping for. Right off the bat, Augustus turns a bunch of his patients away, even though they are veterans he met because Augustus sent him there in the first place. Even so, Augusts brings up Burt’s morphine intake, bars him from seeing Beatrice, and blacklists him. Beatrice apologizes to him as he departs. Still helping veterans by himself, he relocates his practice to an alley. Admittedly, he got a little out of control with the pain medicine, and he was given an “enforced rest” courtesy of the state of New York, meaning jail. So, he wrote his friends to help get him out. Back in Amsterdam, Harold wants Valerie to help Burt get out since she has a family with a lot of influence, as the pact is important to him. She’s not too keen on it though because she ran away from her family. Her family could possibly help him, but if she contacts them, they’ll know where she is. If they know, they’ll find a way to drag her back. When Harold pleads Burt’s case for him like how he’s trying to help their old regiment and how bad the veterans have it back home, Valerie sees this as their friend group ending as it only exists in Amsterdam, and they’ve been on borrowed time for a while since Harold has talked about what he wants to do in America. Harold argues that he just wants to fight for people by becoming a lawyer, but he still does want to live with her in Amsterdam. Right now though, their priority needs to be Burt, and she agrees. Sadly, Valerie leaves the next day and leaves a note for Harold. Suddenly, Burt was released from jail but never heard from Valerie, and Harold came back to New York and got his law degree. Burt and Harold worked together for over ten years. They got so many people out of trouble until the case of Bill Meekins in which they are currently in.
For the first time, they are in trouble and Burt’s not confident in their survival.
The two go to Beatrice’s place because Burt says she knows people from Liz’s world. Making sure his glass eye looks good, he goes over to talk with her while Harold waits in the other room. Sadly, she admits there’s no dinner for him despite her invitation because it was a moment of weakness. She says her father can’t know about this because he’ll take away a bunch of privileges. In the other room, Harold searches the place and finds a program for The Committee for a Sound Dollar. As this goes on, Beatrice says she still loves Burt and takes a look at his back, admitting how he used to be good looking but now he’s grotesque because of his scars and back issues. Piling on, she refers to his back brace as him wearing a corset like a woman. As Harold starts to listen in through the door, Burt has enough and asks Beatrice if she chooses him or she needs him. She’s confused by the question, so Burt paraphrases Irma St. Clair by saying “love is choosing someone, not needing them for some other reason”. Beatrice responds by asking if he needed her when they met or if he chose her as a person. Was it the people around her? Was it the prestige of her family in medicine when he was a scholarship student from Upstate New York, or did he choose just her? Harold interrupts admitting he asked Burt the same question earlier. This leads to them explaining the Liz situation, how they’re implicated in the crime, and how they need help. Harold asks about Mr. Rose since she was referring to his help before she died. However, Beatrice insists she would never know a Rose because it’s a Jewish name. Then, she corrects him. Harold misheard it. It was actually Voze, a prominent name in the Social Register. Just then, Det. Getweiler (Matthias Schoenaerts) and Det. Hiltz (Alessandro Nivola) enter Beatrice’s home, and Burt immediately starts talking shit to them.
Getweiler and Hiltz make it clear they were assigned to Liz’s murder case and Burt and Harold are suspects because everyone there said it was them. The two calmly explain what actually happened, and Harold assures Getweiler he can give him evidence of his employment contract with Liz, the preliminary autopsy report, and the Bill Meekins estate papers. They still want to take the two in, but Burt wonders if it would get their captain’s attention if they got someone to vouch for them from the Social Register like Mr. Voze. Beatrice is unsure of this idea, but she tells the detectives that her family have been long standing members of the medical board and can attest to the fact that both Burt and Harold are horrible liars to each other, let alone the police. If they take them in before they’ve given the two a chance to give everything they’ve offered, she threatens that it may cost the detectives their job because Augustus has a lot of friends in City Hall. They agree with giving them some time to gather their evidence. In addition, the veteran Getweiler also will be in Burt’s office soon anyway to get some more pills. They exit Beatrice’s apartment and run right into Tarim in his car. He waves his gun at them stating, “Committee of the Five, stay alive. Keep your mouth shut”. What did this guy have in mind? Who is the Committe of the Five? Will Burt and Harold be able to clear their name and solve the murders of Bill and Liz Meekins? The mystery has just begun, and it will involve Valerie miraculously being brought back into the fold after all these years.
My Thoughts:
Amsterdam is appealing in many different ways but is overall divisive because of the feature in its totality ends up being a middling sum of its (at times) extraordinary parts, which is a shame because it nails almost every aspect of a successful production. The cast is wonderful, each and every character is unique and thoroughly developed, the whimsical score fits the wacky humor, the vibrant cinematography is close to flawless, and the presentation surrounding the detail-rich narrative is engrossing as can be, to a point. David O. Russell’s complicated mystery builds and builds and builds and doesn’t lose the audience for a second because of the entertaining flow of the narrative and the excitement in getting to know all of the eccentricities of such amusing and captivating characters, highlighted by an all-star ensemble that includes everyone from Taylor Swift to Robert De Niro. The story continues to weave in and out of fascinating backstories and shifts the timeline to explain certain events, and the care and spirit of the oddball mystery of epic proportions is felt in the performances, the intricacies in the convoluted story, and how Russell follows the action. As great as the build is and how entrenched we become in what looks to be a world-affecting puzzle that our unlikely heroic trio find themselves in, all the precious momentum flies out the door in a flat, shaggy dog-type of ending. In a way, it’s almost impressive how 80% of the movie is so enthralling that you feel as if Russell is on the verge of a certified classic, but it’s somehow completely blown in a strangely unbecoming third act marred with a series of disappointing decisions within the narrative and a payoff that leaves you bothered because of the potential being squandered on levels not thought possible.
Crafting this movie within the planning stages must have been loads of fun, which is probably why David O. Russell was able to convince so many talented people to be a part of it. Amsterdam succeeds most with its character development, so much so that it supersedes the mystery itself. It doesn’t matter what journey the characters find themselves in. The characters are so fascinating that we’d want to follow them in whatever adventure they decide to go on. Burt, Harold, and Valerie could have stayed in Amsterdam itself during the sequence where their unlikely friendship flourished and the pact was solidified, and the events of the story would have been just as engrossing. That’s how wonderful some aspects of the movie are. The loving montage of Valerie doing her bizarre art centered on eyes and the human body while getting her friends involved, the group singing a nonsense song, or dancing in tango parlors feel like moments in time of a real friendship we as the viewer are lucky enough to witness. When an embarrassed Burt tells the two privately, before making the ultimate decision to go back to New York since he does have a life and marriage there, that “this relationship is probably the most important thing in my life”, the earnestness of the love they share for each other is earned. They all feel the same way, but they know that once one of them leaves, this short, beautiful time in their life will never be the same. It’s not that Harold and Valerie aren’t close. In fact, they are linked romantically throughout, but that’s how strong their friendship is when Burt is there. It somehow makes them even closer. It’s not a friendship audiences see a lot in mainstream films, but any close-knit friend group can relate. Sometimes, we know when the best time of our lives are. There are certain events that happen in life where we are lucky enough to be given a chance in the moment to reflect and appreciate how awesome it is to be there in the present.
It can be inspiring, it can give you goosebumps just thinking about it, and it can put a smile on your face that you can’t hide. Once one realizes how great the moment is, we don’t want it to end. It’s our nature. We do whatever we can to make sure the laughs are plentiful, the days are longer, and the party is harder. At the same time, there are some that don’t realize it until they look back on it. However, when they do look back into the prime of their youth and when fun wasn’t hard to come by, a good portion of it can be rooted back to the times spent with their friends. In some of these smaller, carefully crafted flashbacks, Amsterdam manages to capture this feeling, and it really does stay with you. Because of this and how these three are linked together for life because of the small time they spent with each in Amsterdam, the plot means that much more when Valerie reenters the picture after being found in the home of her brother Tom Voze and his wife Libby (Taylor-Joy). After not hearing from Valerie for years, despite being closer than any group of friends has ever been for a time period, she comes back into the lives of Burt and Harold and it’s as if time picked up right where they left off. Now, they just have to stop another war from happening by becoming pseudo-detectives following the two being brought back into the fold by Liz Meekins, the daughter of the general that was the catalyst for everything that happens. They could have easily excluded themselves, as both Burt and Harold have careers and personal lives to worry about. Burt in particular is still trying to fix his marriage, despite his in-laws doing everything they can to remove him from their daughter’s life. Even so, once it’s known that Bill Meekins is the man who passed, they both feel it’s their duty to help as he indirectly changed the trajectory of their lives by introducing Harold to Burt in their regiment.
Because of this, Bill is responsible for Burt and Harold’s friendship that would eventually grow to include Valerie, following them being sent to a military hospital in France after being torn to shreds in a visceral and brutal sequence that impressively encapsulated the horrors of World War I without having to show a scene on the battlefield. As the screams are heard, as Burt’s face is bloodied after losing his eye and Harold shutters as Valerie deals with his scarring, the unforgettable sequence leads to the eventual unbreakable bond between them. Again, all of it can be traced back to Bill Meekins. His death can’t be forgotten about if it gave them so much, especially if foul play could be involved. With this, the journey begins, and it becomes stuffed to the brim with complications and new developments while more people get involved in some roundabout way.
No matter what happens, the kindhearted Burt is at the center of it all. He no doubt has his problems, but his generosity in doing whatever he can to help his fellow veterans with his practice or with the gala that he hosts to honor them, Burt is an improbable hero that is easy to get behind. John David Washington as the physically tougher Harold is good as the best friend, but when they stress the relationship between him and Margot Robbie’s Valerie as this big selling point, I can’t help but think that original cast member Michael B. Jordan would’ve done a better job. It was natural when they were friends and flirting, but it didn’t click as a passionate romance that was taking control in the second half of the movie. Even so, watching John David Washington get his reps in with so many great directors and high-profile films is good to see because I’m starting to like him more and more. Robbie was great as usual and did a great job at not only grounding Bale and Washington but also in making sure Anya Taylor-Joy and Rami Malek’s weird self are put in their place when they need to be. To further strengthen the movie, the warmth of Zoe Saldaña’s presence is felt in her limited role, and she does such a wonderful job at making every second of screen time count. It gets to the point where you’re practically begging for Burt to forget about his refusal-to-take-responsibility wife and her domineering parents that effectively ruined Burt’s life. The scene in his office where he resets Irma’s broken wrist and they start to get romantic while Henri Salvador’s “Doucemont, doucemont” is played (“They’re waiting for us”-“Let them wait”) gives off a feeling of serenity that is hard to put into words. Additionally, Timothy Olyphant takes the creepy role of madman killer that Michael Shannon would usually occupy, and it allows for Shannon himself to play off a brilliant return-to-form Mike Myers as spies for their respective intelligence agencies as well as avid birdwatchers.
The dialogue they are given that somehow always finds its way back to birds is unexpectedly hilarious (“We’re on your side of course! Same God, different church. Same lady, different dress. The cuckoo is in the nest and it’s about to be trapped.”). At one point, Tom explains to Burt and Harold that he’s been asked to get involved and committees and clubs and rhetorically asks them to inquire what he does instead. When he hits them with, “I’m a bird watcher”, you can’t help but laugh at the seemingly irreverent callback until he brings it up in private to a confused Burt that “There’s a man in England who has violated every sacred rule of birding by going into 24 nests of a near-extinct species of bird, to take 24 eggs, all to get his name in a bird book for meaningless discovery”. His speech of how whoever did this probably has something to do with Bill and Liz’s death is such a wild accusation, but it just adds to the layers of what the movie is all about and who these people are through and through (“I’ve been discussing crimes of the bird society of England. Your brother’s a little kooky”). Russell’s odd way of tying everything back to birdwatching is genius (in a comedic sense), and it gets increasingly more ridiculous each time. Funnily enough, it does make more and more sense as the story moves along. A great example is when like Paul and Henry were the people Tom was referring to, but they explain how, “The cuckoo lacks the capacity, the civility, the character to build its own nest”. After Burt hysterically responds in a quote that I may use in everyday speech, “Wow, how is that possibly significant or interesting to anybody or anything?”, they talk about how the cuckoo is a parasitic bird who tricks better birds who build nests, destroy the hosts’ eggs, and then destroy the nest itself. In a roundabout way, it’s related to the parasitic nature of humans and leads us to the creation of this cabal in the United States with ties to Germany who want to rule the world. Of course, this is the Committee of the Five, a precursor to Nazism.
I did hate how Harold and Valerie try to say that this is what they are trying to tell Burt when they followed Tarim back to that unknown building where the secret clinics were because the three drove to Paul and Henry together. Logistically, why didn’t they explain it to him during the car ride?
Anyway, I don’t care what any major critic has said about Amsterdam. This is not a potboiler of a movie. Russell and the actors involved care about these characters. It’s obvious if you take the time to watch it, which is why every supporting character involved is just as memorable as the last, no matter how large the role is within the puzzle. Even fellow veteran Det. Geitweiler, who gives Burt trouble but is still a regular patient of his, and putz Det. Hiltz who is off a step and has moments where he breaks a vase for no reason, have their moments to shine bright.
Regardless, the success and interest in the movie is attributed directly to star Christian Bale as Dr. Burt Berendsen. In an already legendary acting career filled to the brim with memorable performances, his role as the off-kilter, glass eye-wearing war veteran, and oddball doctor with back and drug problems might be one of the most underrated performances of his career. Scarred, hunched over, and speaking with a lovingly imitable cadence, Bale steals every scene he’s in with force and seems fully aware that he’s the most peculiar guy in the room and relishes in it. Amsterdam as a whole is an ambitious production in a lot of different ways, but the creation of Burt Berendsen is quite possibly the personification of the movie’s uniqueness in how its displayed to the moviegoing public. The movie is filled with wonderment, a zest for life despite the darker aspects of it, and the importance of love and friendship overall. Burt is all of that, which is why he’s the centerpiece of the trio of stars. He’s hilarious too. His bewildered expression with everyone he’s dealing with that tiptoe into desperation combined with his humorous reactions to what’s going on is pure entertainment. A perfect is example is just how he exclaims “Why?” when Hiltz tells him he’s a prime suspect, or his subsequent reaction when Hiltz asks him if he has any medicine for power and strength. Watching him close the door in annoyance before saying, “Optimism” to himself is gold. There isn’t a single scene or moment where he’s not the most entertaining person in the room. At the same time, he wins us over so well, that I felt as heartbroken as he did at the gala when Beatrice and her parents try to welcome him back in because of his newfound status with Dillenbeck. When Beatrice looks past him because of some fuckhead named Cornelius Vanderbilt, while barely acknowledging Burt when talking about how exciting it is for him to move back in, he just sinks because “I’ve waited too long for the wrong thing”. It’s a moment of clarity that hits like a gut punch, especially because we know everything he went through to get to this point and be accepted by Beatrice and her parents.
Proving her true self even more, she tells him confidently, “I think terrible things might happen to you”. Right after, the selfless and kind Burt’s true colors show in his response back with, “What a thing to say to anyone, let alone your beloved”. Thank goodness he has friends that care for him. Bale and Russell conceive such a significant and intrinsically wacky main character that you can’t take your eye off of. With his stilted speech, random pauses, and a striking look that seems to be a mix of Charlie Chaplin and a mad scientist, the heartbroken and caring Burt is a beautifully thought-out main character who is cultivated by the increasing artistry of one of Hollywood’s best working actors of the last twenty-five years. There’s a lot of pros and cons to Amsterdam as a whole, but Christian Bale’s work alone is worth the watch. It’s an absolute masterclass in making a remarkable and bewitching all-timer protagonist in a film that will ultimately be forgotten to the annals of time.
I can’t lie. It was pretty funny to see Taylor Swift get nailed by that car. It reminded me of the surprise death of Pete Davidson’s Blackguard at the beginning of The Suicide Squad. They brought in both present-day superstars to attract their fanbases but killed off both in comedic ways for the people that don’t like them just as much. For the sake of comedy, both were brilliant moves. Amsterdam is consistently funny too. One of my favorite moments was when Burt is caught with Irma by an intruding Beatrice and he’s like, “Why are you here now, of all times? Like you never come here”. As Geitweiler and Hiltz stand in the doorway because they’re intrigued by the argument, Beatrice reveals Shirley snitched before she teases Burt by almost kissing him. Then, she storms off, with Burt shouting over to his nosy secretary, “Not helpful Shirley!”. Another great moment was Dillenbeck going into great detail in describing who Burt and Harold are only to get both of his assumptions completely wrong (“You stabbed 30 Germans, and they called you Black Death.”-“No sir, that was ‘Black Death’ Henry Johnson, but I got 12 of them before they gave me this”). On the other hand, Chris Rock tried hard but did not contribute comedically whatsoever. Besides this, some dialogue tries to be too philosophic and comes off as pretentious. In other times, the dialogue is too expositional, and redundant statements are made by characters to reiterate the situation at hand or remind the viewer specifics of the plot or certain plot developments because Russell clearly doesn’t trust the viewer to keep up, which is fair because the story is so unbelievably complex (and ultimately not entirely necessary). At some point, they are literally reminding the audience of the situation at hand as if they forgot what the movie was about. It’s quite bizarre, especially after Burt explains for like the fourth time how Bill Meekins has died and they’re trying to find out who did it. At the same time, I have to give credit to Bale because even his rambling was delightful.
Hell, his drug use is chucklesome like when he falls to the ground after taking the pills or is amazed at how quick the numbing eye drops work on him that Tom Voze has him try (“Oh that’s fast. That is good”).
As previously stated, the third act was botched. To be fair, the suspense created in preparation for the third act was done so well, it would have been nearly impossible to pay it off at its peak. Unfortunately, the decision to deliver it in such a slow, unraveled sort of way, with a shrugging-of-shoulders type of reaction hit the ground like a thud. Once Dillenbeck tells the three his side of things and how Maguire has been wanting him to speak at the gala for quite some time knowing the veterans would follow, and we see how intelligent he is because he sees through the sketchiness of it all, we are locked into what SHOULD be a near cataclysmic climax. Again, the suspense is incredible like when Maguire corrects Dillenbeck saying they want a “dictator”, and he says “chancellor” before arguing how they did it with veterans in Germany and Italy. Then, Maguire refers to them as “Committee of the Five” before correcting himself and saying “Committe for a Sound Dollar”, and they all look at each other like something dark is happening. When it’s combined with the goosebumps moment of Maguire agreeing to let Dillenbeck meet the rest of the committee in a private room, we have no choice but to expect a James Bond or Mission: Impossible type of ending. The tension is palpable when the committee members tell Dillenbeck he needs a larger imagination. At that moment, we are led to believe we need to brace for impact. Unfortunately, the moment never comes. The air is simply let out of the balloon. The assassination attempt that Burt intercepts is great, but the follow-up is almost pitiful. By the time the weirdest guy in the movie was revealed to be a fan of Hitler and Mussolini before it was cool, you shrug because the buildup made it feel like this was going to be more of an explosive finale following it this information reveal. Granted, the events depicted were partially rooted to factual events, and Russell probably wanted to adhere to it to maintain the reality and disappointing real-life conclusion of what happened, but this adherence undermined all the work the filmmaker did by refusing to complete the movie in a cinematically satisfying fashion.
He had to have seen it coming! I find it hard to believe he wouldn’t.
I don’t normally advocate such things, but a decision to “change history” in the vein of Inglourious Basterds or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood should have been the answer to finish this movie off. I also didn’t understand why Paul and Henry are stressing the importance of getting Burt, Harold, and Valerie to involve Gil Dillenbeck in this matter. Why would they entrust them with such a big job to stop a plot for world-domination? Wouldn’t the two special agents just cut out the middlemen themselves and asks a patriot like Dillenbeck directly by just explaining why they need his help? Not enough reason is given as to why they take such a lackadaisical approach while putting all their trust into three civilians to save the fucking world.
The reintroduction of Valerie being couped up in a house with Tom and Libby grabs are attention right away. Just look at the glances they share when Valerie reveals herself to be in the same house. Without even having to say it, all three are thinking about Amsterdam and the best time in their lives that Burt had to stop, and Valerie gave up on instead of trying to salvage what she had with Harold. Knowing they haven’t gotten a letter a call or anything from Valerie after all these years, this moment in time that was so important to all three of them was just that, a moment in time. She was thought to be forever lost, but apparently, she was living in New Jersey with her brother and under her real last name this whole time and just didn’t say anything. This, along with how their deal in Amsterdam was to not talk about the past, has now led to Harold and Burt both realizing they don’t know her at all. Though she is embarrassed at not being who she was in Amsterdam, she’s still Valerie at heart and has to convince them otherwise. Because of this, she still considers their pact in effect knowing how near and dear to their hearts they hold it, effectively guaranteeing their involvement as she was the one who suggested to Liz they be hired in the first place. It may have been 12 years, but the gang is back together again, and it’s because she knows Burt and Harold are the only two that she can trust. Unfortunately, Harold has a point. She has changed, as she is now dealing with a litany of medical problems like numbness, chills, epilepsy, she’s prone to falling, and she’s dealing with an unknown nerve disorder that she never had before. Without having to say it out loud, it doesn’t take much to think that alien-sounding Malek and alien-looking Taylor-Joy have something to do with her condition, another “surprise” of the movie that isn’t too surprising.
Tom’s refusal to involve himself in anything controversial because he’s easily intimidated, which is why he doesn’t think he can help them with Dillenbeck, is too suspicious and automatically gives the viewer the idea that he will want power of some sort. Libby being overly controlling of her sister-in-law practically slaps you in the face with the foregone conclusion that something is wrong about her too. Malek can’t say something like “Bill Meekins was a graham cracker of a man” and not come off as someone you should keep an eye on. At the same time, Libby’s distrust of Valerie’s “demented” art and her infatuation with Dillenbeck just spells trouble. This is why the flat ending is as anticlimactic as it is. The viewer isn’t shocked with the reveal. They are just waiting for what the movie is going to do with it. The problem is that it just stops there in its tracks. It’s like Russell didn’t think he could pull off the ambitiousness of the story and cut it off at the knees by settling for a logical and reality-based finale instead of matching the fun of the rest of the picture. Valerie’s trigger-happy daydream gave us a taste of what could have been, but ultimately, Paul and Henry’s reasoning as to why this wouldn’t work is too intelligent to ignore. It almost shames the audience into believing this story could happen any other way. The final seconds try to send the audience home happy by hammering home the themes of true love and friendship, but it falls on deaf ears because the events that occur at that point are too large to ignore and throw to the side.
I adored the other art sequence between Valerie and Harold, as they hang out in her studio with her x-rays and such, while Josephine Baker is played in the background. There’s a level of warmth to it that Amsterdam seems to have in spades, despite the larger picture being a much darker story. Even though their date happens when the cops and Irma show up at Burt’s practice when Harold was supposed to pick him up (“Okay, everything all at once”), the viewer is reminded of what that time meant for them when it was all but lost. The three of them were inseparable, and “most of all, we lived”. Scenes like these are beautiful in context, which is why it wouldn’t have mattered what journey the characters were forced to go on for the sake of the story. As long as this trio of friends were at the core of it, it was going to be something to remember. With an uplifting score by Daniel Pemberton (exemplified by the persistent instrumental of “Time” by Giveon), sweeping camera movements that make everything feel as strange as the world they build, a spirit and energy that moves the viewer, David O. Russell’s hard-to-categorize and hard-to-market Amsterdam ultimately misses the mark on what could have been and is a lot better on a rewatch, but it is indeed something you will remember. There is disappointment in the aftermath just like there is in real life, but just like Burt, the events that unfold will make you glad you decided to stay.
Fun Fact: As previously mentioned, Michael B. Jordan was originally set to play John David Washington’s role but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Jamie Foxx was also considered. Jennifer Lawrence was reportedly considered for Margot Robbie’s role.
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