brett short’s review published on Letterboxd:
i am conflicted with my star rating and cannot decide if it should go up to four or down to three. this movie is somehow not good and 'great' simultaneously. it does not deserve the hate it gets. if this came out as a mini-series, it would be praised. some of the notes i made while watching:
-feels like an epic in how it's shot (it looks great)
-crazy number of huge crowd shots-at least ten scenes with at least a hundred people
-long ass dancing scene at harvard
-music is godfather derivitative
-pretty scenery, great wide shots
-clunky exposition
-not a single black person: heaven's gated community
-sam waterston playing a dick
-jeff bridges running a cockfight ring/church/roller rink
-some definite parrallels to trumpism
-juggling man, first seen juggling on roller skates makes return as background juggling man during intense scene
-"they are opposed to anything that would settle and improve things in this country. or try to make it something more than cow pasture for eastern speculators. they advance the idea that poor people have nothing to say in this country"
-chaotic resistance peckinpah-esque shoot out
i also got some good pictures of christopher walken, tom noonan, mickey rourke, and others