In the city of New Rome visionary architect Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver) vies for creative control over the direction of the city’s architecture with the greedy Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). Making their feud even more bitter is the fact that Cesar’s new love and muse is the mayor’s daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel). 

Other complications arise from various other antagonists. Cesar’s cousin Clodio (Shia LaBeouf) hates him and wants to destroy him in any way he can. Cesar’s ex-girlfriend Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza) wants him back and will do nefarious things to get him. Whilst banker Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight) is used by both Clodio and Wow to try and get what they want. 

In the middle of all of this is the futuristic new building material that Cesar has discovered called Megalon, the mysterious death of Cesar’s wife and the fact that Cesar can stop time when he is with his muse Julia. 

Megalopolis is a mostly incomprehensible and dull art project from a director who has brought the world some of the greatest films of all time. In fact I am not sure whether the plot of this film or the story of how it was created is the crazier story. When I wrote my most anticipated films of 2024 back in December of 2023 the film had around half a dozen actors who no longer appear in the film and I probably had a better idea of what it was going to be about. 

The general idea is that Coppola is trying to tell us that civilisations fall due to powerful people thinking of themselves rather than society and the future. Just as Rome eventually fell so will Western civilisation. New Rome here is basically New York with the likes of Madison Square Garden taking the place of the Coliseum. With Cesar trying to build something for the society of the future and Cicero only interested in what will make money now. 

Because Coppola sees this story as a dramatic tragedy on a grand scale he tells it like a Shakespearean play. Characters even speak actual Shakespeare soliloquies such as “to be or not to be” and every story beat is told in an operatic style. 

The result is an absolute mess that plays out over a gargantuan 138 minutes. And you will feel every single one of them. 

Family members Talia Shire and Jason Schwartzman have bizarre cameos. Jon Voight talks about his boner. Aubrey Plaza shoves Shia LaBeouf’s face into her crotch. LaBeouf himself is bonkers. Laurence Fishburne does a voiceover. Apparently Adam Driver’s character can stop time because all good artists can and there are a lot of montages of him and his colleagues designing the new city which all look like drama classes. 

It is genuinely difficult to watch.

The fact that this is likely to be Coppola’s last ever movie is something of a disappointment. But the quality of his output across his career has always been erratic. The fact that he has been trying to make this film since 1977 and was prepared to spend $120 million of his own money to do so clearly shows how strongly he felt about the subject matter. Unfortunately this is a film that will likely be one to be discussed in film school rather than enjoyed at home. 

But then we will always have Apocalypse Now, The Godfather trilogy and The Conversation as Coppola’s film making legacy.