Review | Amsterdam movie review: Christian Bale, John David Washington lead all-star cast in sprawling historical comedy-thriller by David O. Russell
- David O Russell’s film boasts an almost unbelievably starry cast that includes Taylor Swift, Margot Robbie, Robert De Niro, Mike Myers and Anya Taylor-Joy
- The story, inspired by real events, is set after World War I. Bale plays a doctor helping injured war veterans and Washington a lawyer
 (1).JPG?itok=0BHk6odg&v=1665981271)
4/5 stars
Led by Christian Bale and John David Washington, as two soldier buddies from the first world war, it offers an embarrassment of riches, with roles for the likes of Chris Rock, Zoe Saldaña, Robert De Niro, Andrea Riseborough, Mike Myers, Rami Malek and Anya Taylor-Joy.
The story is inspired by real-life historical events, although the characters have been amalgamated and fictionalised. Bale plays Burt Berendsen, a doctor who helps soldiers with wartime injuries manage their pain. He bears his own scars from the Great War, including a wonky glass eye.
Washington co-stars as a lawyer, Harold Woodman, who drags Burt into an engrossing case when a young woman (Taylor Swift) asks for their help by performing an autopsy on her senator father, whom she suspects of being murdered.
So begins a propulsive adventure that soon sees Burt and Harold accused of a crime they didn’t commit and forced to clear their names. What ultimately emerges is a conspiracy that goes right to the heart of government, the military and American corporate culture.
But while this tale of a brewing coup d’état is inspired by a little-known but very real plot from 1933, Russell blends it with imagination, beginning with Valerie Voze (Margot Robbie), a former World War I nurse who has links to both Burt and Harold’s past when they briefly cohabited in Amsterdam.
Myers’ wryly amusing MI6 spy/bird enthusiast Paul Canterbury is typical of his broad comedy. Taylor-Joy’s cruel socialite is hugely entertaining, while De Niro brings just the right gravitas to his decorated general. It might just be Swift, in a rare dramatic role, who leaves the film clutching the most memorable scene.
With a voice-over-driven story that, at its core, is about the power of love and friendship, Russell packs a lot into Amsterdam. Perhaps too much. It’s a very ambitious high-wire act that the writer-director pulls, a Hal Ashby-style caper full of fireworks with contemporary political overtones.
But led by Bale, the film’s sentimental anchor, Amsterdam has a charming, shaggy-dog feel – a crazed story for a crazy world.
