Amsterdam UHD Review

Writer/Director David O. Russell’s lavish production, Amsterdam, is filled to the rafters with magnificent talent, an impressive recreation of 1930s America, and an approach we rarely see in cinema today, odd-ball comedy with doses of physical, pratfall humor. Almost all the ingredients are there, but the script is missing sufficient wit. When it works, it’s a hoot (“Oh, that’s fast”), but it’s too often near the edge of landing before stepping back, like a sneeze that just won’t come out. It’s a film that works its way slowly to unravel the mystery of its plot, examining love, betrayal, friendship, dreams, duty, and loyalty and all the fractious ways those things appear in our lives. But it can’t quite close the deal to become what it’s reaching for. It’s hard to recommend something that doesn’t come together the way you hoped, and yet, there is something endearing about this near miss.

The Production: 3/5

“Each one of us is given a tapestry, our own opera. This person and this person. Thinking about it… love is not enough. You got to fight to protect kindness. You get attached to people and things. And they might just break your heart… but that’s being alive.”

Three inseparable and unlikely friends who met in the carnage of World War I find themselves in the middle of a bizarre tale of murder, intimidating and shadowy figures, and the threads of an incredible conspirative plot to undermine American democracy. It’s a race against time to clear their names and uncover what’s behind the madness.

Amsterdam is a curious creation. It’s a plot busied by characters with quirks, and a script perpetually stuck in 2^nd gear. An interesting tale weaving little-known fact with ongoing fictional dalliances, it becomes a parade of characters in diverting moments marginally helping the narrative inch forward. For long stretches the film seems preoccupied with simply ‘being’, enamored by its characters but failing to give them compelling or witty dialogue to keep us, the audience, interested and engaged in their exploits. It’s the performances that paper over the script’s misses, and most of the time, it’s enough. But the film struggles to pull its pieces together evenly to keep audiences bought in to this world.

Still, despite Amsterdam being less than the sum of its many parts, it manages to charm as it finds itself in the zone later in the film. Once the initial delight and energy has faded from the opening moments, it hits a stretch of side-street moments between characters doing odd things that result in occasional delights, moments that surprisingly start to add up. There are lines of dialogue that land superbly, dashes of slapstick that tickle, and instances of directorial delight, but there is also a considerable volume of attempts to give us chuckle or a sense of joy that simply don’t make it. It’s really when Robert De Niro shows up, meeting our trio of protagonists in person for the first time, that Amsterdam feels like it’s found its groove.

Part of the joy of Amsterdam is watching actors we adore in scenes together. Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, and Robert De Niro in one, Zoe Saldana, Chris Rock, Christian Bale, and John David Washington in another (the autopsy). The film is stuffed with incredible actors who get to do something interesting even if their time on screen is short. And the performances are uniformly solid, or at least likable, with the three leads in particular offering something quite special. Christian Bale’s performance as Burt Berendsen, marred by war injuries and flirtations with medicinal drugs gives this fine actor a chance to give a physical, farcical performance. He’s top-notch here. John David Washington is solid as Harold Woodman, the foot soldier-turned-lawyer who is the voice of reason during the most absurd of the film’s escapades. Washington is the most restrained of the performances and it’s anchoring among the character riffs that play out around him. Margot Robbie, an actress of immense talent, is a delight as the slightly off kilter Valerie Yoze, as she ranges from comedically unraveled to romantically compelling. The rest of the cast is unusually impressive, with turns by Andrea Riseborough, Anya Taylor-Joy, Alessandro Nivola, Chris Rock, Mike Myers, a nearly unrecognizable Timothy Olyphant, Zoe Saldana, Rami Malek, Taylor Swift (who is better than I’d expected her to be, frankly), and Michael Shannon.

A handsome production, Amsterdam is replete with exquisite set details, props, and costumes, seamless visual effects, some refreshing camera set-ups for a period film, and a fascinating root story based in fac. But it can’t quite come together despite the very talented efforts of writer/director David O. Russell. Meandering at times, perhaps lacking focus, once the credits are rolling you may feel as I did that you enjoyed the film but don’t believe it really worked. The film is decidedly ‘okay’, though it’s possible that can be enough some days. It’s an “almost but not quite” experience.

Video: 5/5

3D Rating: NA

Amsterdam looks stellar ink. The HDR grading punches up the color contrast and the level of detail from the higher resolution (compared to the Blu-ray) is also quite strong. There’s a muted, brown tone to the film giving us the familiar visual shorthand for the 1930s, but there are still striking moments of color and contrast to be found. Blood, of which there is more than I would have expected, tends to stand out while yellows and greens are favored, too. Skin tones are natural, but this 4K presentation really offers the best way to appreciate the production design in this film.

FYI: The disc uses HDR grading, the 4K digital has Dolby Vision.

Audio: 4.5/5

With a Dolby Atmos audio track, Amsterdam sounds superb. In busier scenes, the city streets near the opening for example, the surrounds fill up nicely, but not overpoweringly so, to put you in the picture. The overheads are exercised modestly, dialogue in the center channel is clear, Christian Bale’s narration is clear and on the warmer side, fittingly, there as well. As a film score fan, Daniel Pemberton’s music for Amsterdam also stands out and finds space to breathe and be enjoyed in throughout the audio space. Pemberton has shown himself gifted at this kind of score, doing great work in films like Enola Holmes, Enola Holmes 2, The Man for U.N.C.L.E, and Motherless Brooklyn. He displays some delighting musical creativity evoking the era well.

Special Features: 1/5

Billed as an “Ultimate Collector’s Edition,” I am unsure what the qualification are for that as the only special feature, found on the accompanying Blu-ray, is a likable but short 15-minute extra with some interviews and shots from the making of. There’s also a digital code sheet.

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc

• No special features

Blu-ray Disc

• Welcome to Amsterdam

Overall: 3.5/5

Writer/Director David O. Russell’s lavish production, Amsterdam, is filled to the rafters with magnificent talent, an impressive recreation of 1930s America, and an approach we rarely see in cinema today, odd-ball comedy with doses of physical, pratfall humor. Almost all the ingredients are there, but the script is missing sufficient wit. When it works, it’s a hoot (“Oh, that’s fast”), but it’s too often near the edge of landing before stepping back, like a sneeze that just won’t come out. It’s a film that works its way slowly to unravel the mystery of its plot, examining love, betrayal, friendship, dreams, duty, and loyalty and all the fractious ways those things appear in our lives. But it can’t quite close the deal to become what it’s reaching for. It’s hard to recommend something that doesn’t come together the way you hoped, and yet, there is something endearing about this near miss.

Neil Middlemiss

Neil has been a member of the Home Theater Forum reviewing staff since 2007, approaching a thousand reviews and interviews with actors, directors, writers, stunt performers, producers and more in that time. A senior communications manager and podcast host with a Fortune 500 company by day, Neil lives in the Charlotte, NC area with his wife and son, serves on the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Charlotte Board of Directors, and has a passion for film scores, with a collection in the thousands.