Christian Bale’s New Movie Is Getting Massacred In Reviews
Christian Bale's Amsterdam has received a dismal 20% on Rotten Tomatoes.
This article is more than 2 years old
Christian Bale is one of Hollywood’s most revered actors, with his roles in highly regarded films like American Psycho, The Machinist, The Prestige, and Christopher Nolan‘s Dark Knight trilogy. But not every movie can be a success, as his new film alongside a slew of giant stars like Margot Robbie, John David Washington, and Robert DeNiro is getting disastrous reviews. The review site Rotten Tomatoes has scored Christian Bale’s Amsterdam a dismal 20% in its first reviews from critics.
Amsterdam is the newest film from director David O. Russell and marks the third time he has worked with Christian Bale following two critical successes in 2010’s The Fighter (which also starred Mark Wahlberg and scored a critic score of 91%) and 2013’s American Hustle (starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, scoring 92% with the critics). The film is only the second time in his career that he has released a movie without a certified fresh rating, the other being 2015’s Accidental Love. O’Russell has five films that have risen above the 90% mark, including three in a row from 2010 to 2013 (The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, and American Hustle).
The film follows three friends, played by Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington, in the 1930s as they try to clear their names after being framed for a murder. As they travel through Amsterdam, they uncover one of the most outrageous plots in American history. Amsterdam also features appearances from Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Mike Shannon, Mike Myers, Timothy Olyphant, Zoe Saldana, Remi Malek, and Robert DeNiro.
This is the second movie in a trilogy of films releasing in 2022 for Christian Bale, including portraying the primary villain, Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder, Amsterdam, and The Pale Blue Eye, chronicling a young Edgar Allen Poe. This is the first of three films released in 2022 for Margot Robbie as well. The second two will be Babylon, telling a story of early Hollywood depravity with Brad Pitt and Olivia Wilde, and Asteroid City with Tom Hanks and Steve Carrell.
This is John David Washington’s first appearance since the Netflix film Beckett, which saw Washington as the titular character who is a tourist embroiled in a dangerous conspiracy and on the run for his life. Washington is best known for his roles in BlacKkKlansman, Ballers, and the Christopher Nolan film, Tenet. Christian Bale’s Amsterdam marks the third consecutive project for Washington that failed to reach the certified fresh mark on Rotten Tomatoes, the previous two being Malcolm & Marie and Beckett.
Amsterdam had all the makings for a blockbuster hit with a director known for successes and a stacked cast including some of Hollywood’s biggest names. While the critics seem to feel that the story was erratic and aimless, and the film didn’t seem to know what it wanted to be, it should have been a guaranteed success. It remains to be seen if the fans will bring it back from the depths of rating failure by disagreeing with the critics.
