Breaking Down Amsterdam, a New Murder Mystery Film

The American period comedy mystery film directed, produced, and written by David O. Russell, Amsterdam, was released this Friday, the 7th.  

Amsterdam has a go at using the subgenre murder mystery but, unfortunately, does not quite hit the mark. There are many pros to this 2-hour and 14 minutes mystery, but there are also a considerable number of cons.  

Amsterdam has many well-known actors in its cast, like Christian Bale playing Dr. Burt Berendsen, Margot Robbie playing Valerie Voze, and John David Washington playing Harold Woodman. The three play the leading trio of friends. Other high-ranking actors include Chris Rock, Mike Myers, Robert De Niro, Beth Grant, and countless others.  

The film earned a tremendous amount of money from its fame, with about $97 million. However, many would agree that the only reason this movie made such a profit can be narrowed down to its variety of famous and favorite faces. 

Burt Berendsen, played by Christian Bale, is sent by his estranged wife’s parents to fight in World War I in 1918. While stationed in France, Burt meets and befriends an African American soldier named Harold Woodsman, played by John David Washington. After receiving and suffering from multiple injuries and wounds from the harsh war, Burt and Harold are nursed back to health by Valerie Voze, played by Margot Robbie, an extraordinary nurse whom they befriend just as quickly.  

The trio then moves to Amsterdam, where they live together and become even closer friends, until Burt decides to return to New York City to be with his wife. Harold has fallen in love with Valerie and begun a tenuous romantic relationship with her while also moving to New York City to fulfill his own aspirations and dreams of becoming a lawyer.  

Fifteen years later, Burt opened his own medical practice catering to war veterans and even remained good friends with Harold, who is now a lawyer. However, the two men have not heard a single word from Valerie since they left Amsterdam. Harold asks Burt to perform an autopsy on Bill Meekins, played by Ed Begley Jr., at the request of Meekins’s daughter, Elizabeth Meekins, played by Taylor Swift, who believes that he was murdered. Burt performs the autopsy with the help of nurse Irma St. Clair, played by Zoe Saldaña, which reveals that Meekins has a considerable amount of poison in his stomach; Burt and Irma theorize that this must have been the true cause of death. Burt and Harold meet with Elizabeth to talk about what the autopsy reveals, but she is suddenly killed when a hitman pushes her into traffic. The hitman then frames Burt and Harold for her death while they flee as the police arrive.  

Burt and Harold attempt to find out who had led Elizabeth to hire them in a desperate attempt to clear their names. This leads them to wealthy textile heir Tom Voze, played by Rami Malek, and his patronizing wife Libby Voze, played by Anya Taylor-Joy. They learn that Valerie is Tom’s sister and was the one who convinced Elizabeth to hire them, knowing they were trustworthy. Burt and Harold then talk with Tom, who suggests they talk to Gil Dillenbeck, played by Robert De Niro, a famous and decorated veteran who was good friends with Meekins.  

While Burt attempts to contact Dillenbeck, Harold and Valerie decide to spend the day at her home, where they notice the hitman, Taron Milfax, played by Timothy Olyphant. They follow him to a forced sterilization clinic owned by a mysterious organization called the “Council of Five.” After a skirmish with Milfax, Harold and Valerie reunite with Burt. Valerie takes them to the Waldorf Astoria in New York, where they meet Paul Canterbury, played by Mike Myers, and Henry Norcross, played by Michael Shannon, Valerie’s benefactors from Amsterdam, who are secretly spies in the intelligence community. Paul and Henry explain that the Council of Five plans to overthrow the American government and that Dillenbeck can help them foil their plot.  

The trio then meet-up with Dillenbeck, who is offered a large sum of cash from a man on behalf of an unnamed benefactor to deliver a speech advocating for veterans to forcibly remove President Franklin D. Roosevelt and install Dillenbeck as a puppet dictator instead. Dillenbeck agrees and plans to speak at a reunion gala, which Burt and Harold are hosting, to draw out whoever is behind the plot.  

Dillenbeck reads his speech at the gala instead of the one he was paid to read. Milfax plans to shoot Dillenbeck for doing so, but Harold and Valerie spot him and stop him just in time, and Milfax is hastily arrested. At the same time, the Council of Five is revealed to be four industry leaders, including Tom, who are all fanatically obsessed with Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler and intend to make America a fascist country.  

Tom and the other leaders are immediately arrested by the police but do not stay long and slander Dillenbeck in the press following their release. Dillenbeck testified about the incident to Congress and returned home to live his life peacefully. Harold and Valerie leave the country since they cannot be together in the United States. Burt wishes them farewell and plans to reopen his medical practice and pursue a relationship with Irma.  

At the start of the film’s end credits, original 1930s footage of retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler’s testimony to the US Congress is shown beside a similar portrayal by General Gil Dillenbeck, reading the same script at the same time.  

As previously stated, this film focused on the “Murder Mystery” subgenre but couldn’t meet the standards that everyone had for it. While Amsterdam does have a very diverse and talented group of actors, the plotline and timing did not do the movie any justice. Even though this movie has a great start and a decent plotline, it wasn’t executed with efficiency. The timing of this movie is simply not effective and dilutes the film’s overall quality. Many would also agree that this movie’s “twist” and ending were a huge disappointment and did not live up to expectations.  

Another major issue with this movie was the director, David O. Russel. Throughout the years, David O. Russell has developed a rather distasteful reputation both in his career and as an individual. As a result, he gained major criticism, which bled into the film’s success. It is commonly known that the director has engaged in harsh and borderline abusive treatment towards not only his actors but his film crew along with reports of him assaulting his niece.

Many would agree that Russel’s questionable past has impacted many people’s views and opinions about his movie. However, regardless of whether he hadn’t committed several inexcusable actions, this movie was still not a quality film and would have most likely gotten similar reviews from unsatisfied viewers.