Review of Asteroid City (2023) by Veyni — 23 Jul 2023

Not for everyone.

'Asteroid City' is a new movie directed by Wes Anderson, known for such works as 'The Grand Budapest Hotel', 'The French Herald', 'Isle of Dogs' and others. The events of the movie unfold in 1955 in the city of 'Asteroid City', where an annual meeting of young astronomers is held. The city got its name because of its close proximity to the crater formed after the fall of the asteroid.

The film's cast is impressive (Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Edward Norton, Bryan Cranston, Margot Robbie, Willem Defoe), but the director fails to capitalize on its potential. Instead of giving each actor a chance to showcase their talents and create well-developed characters, too many characters appear for no reason and are not properly developed. It makes it feel like everyone in the picture was introduced just to simply fill in and diversify scenes, rather than contribute to the story.

I don't know who chose the release window for this movie, but that person deserves a huge thank you, as the action of the movie takes place in a hot desert, which perfectly harmonizes with the summer heat outside.

The movie has a dual storyline, which is definitely a creative decision. One line is the play being watched by the regular audience, meaning us, and the second line is the behind-the-scenes activity of the actors who are in the play. In my opinion, this could have been safely abandoned as it throws off the pace and complicates the plot. In addition, these lines are constantly changing each other, which does not bring anything good to this, already boring, movie. Also, the picture itself was broken up into acts and scenes, which detracted from the full immersion in the movie.

The camerawork, costumes, and set design in the movie are top notch! If you have already watched a couple of Anderson's movies and appreciated his visual style, you should definitely watch this movie. You will get everything that you loved this director for, and maybe even more.

I would like to mention a little about the child actors. Their talented acting and naturalness in the frame stand out against the rest of the cast. If they were the main characters and given more room to express themselves, the movie would have been more enjoyable and memorable.

Overall, 'Asteroid City' is a prime example of style dominating the story and content of the movie. I hope that after the sensational Hollywood strikes, Wes Anderson can find himself a good screenwriter. Maybe I just didn't understand the author's brilliant idea, I don't know for sure.

From me, the movie gets a 6.7 out of 10, and if you round it up, it's a rather restrained 7.