Movie Review: Eddington

There is quite a bit to admire in director Ari Aster’s new film Eddington. But a meandering story arc that leads to a two-and-a-half hour narrative that swerves in and out of various genres and causes the heart of the whole endeavor to get lost along the way.

Taking place in Eddington, New Mexico at the start of the summer of 2020, the film is ostensibly about a feud between Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) and Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) for control of the town. But, what begins as an intriguing character piece quickly descends into a mish-mash of genres that never finds its true voice despite trying out several.

Working from his own script, Aster seems intent on creating an epic story on several fronts. The only problem is that it fails to succeed in any incarnation. As a western, it comes up short; as a drama, it wanders around far too much; and, as an action film, it proves to be too little too late and misplaced as well.

Joaquin Phoenix and Luke Grimes in “Eddington.”

Buried within the far too many storylines shoehorned into the film’s plot, is a solid story that could have proven to be a coherent piece. But, it is too far beneath the surface to get the proper attention it requires or might deserve.

Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of Eddington are the performances provided by all those involved. Phoenix does well as the misguided Sheriff that seems likely to do the wrong thing to get the right thing done. Meanwhile, his nemesis, Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) is played as a sort-of playboy caricature that doesn’t even attempt to pretend to respect Sheriff Cross in any sort of way. Other characters, such as Emma Stone’s Louise (the Sheriff’s off-kilter wife) and the cult leader Vernon (Austin Butler), seem to exist solely to add quirkiness or the offbeat to the film rather than anything substantial.

Although there is a beauty to the film given the desert photography provided by Darius Khondji, the tediousness the of plot reaching its denouement as the second act erodes all of the goodwill created in the first.

While it is far from a complete failure, Eddington is a major misfire in that there is a version of the film that could be on par with some of the best films of the last twenty years had it decided to be one type of film rather than trying to be several at once.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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