Amsterdam's uneven pacing and erratic story mishandled its amazing potential and left me wondering when it would finally end.
Amsterdam comes roaring out of the gate with a fast-paced, quirky, charming, and unique mystery of the likes of Sherlock Holmes or Knives Out. The list of celebrities and actors continues to grow as almost every face in this movie is another a-lister making an entertaining appearance. I was so excited to see what happened next and was surprised when the story suddenly screeched to a halt for a very long slow flashback that didn't offer much to the plot. I hoped the exciting pace would return when the story returned to its original narrative, but the risk and urgency had been replaced by a scattered collection of arbitrary dialogue and scenes that lingered much longer than needed. The pacing lagged almost an hour before ramping back up in the final act. Amsterdam had so much potential but floundered in its attempts to be whimsical and unique. The film's best part was Michael Shannon and Mike Myers' quirky bird-loving spies. Every time they were on the screen, I couldn't help but laugh. Christian Bale logged another amazing performance, as expected. But even with entertaining characters, great performances, and an exciting opening and conclusion, Amsterdam fumbled all its fantastic elements and ended up making my eyes heavy and my heart yearn to go to bed early.