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Review | Amsterdam movie review: Christian Bale, John David Washington lead all-star cast in sprawling historical comedy-thriller by David O. Russell

  • David O Russell’s film boasts an almost unbelievably starry cast that includes Taylor Swift, Margot Robbie, Robert De Niro, Mike Myers and Anya Taylor-Joy
  • The story, inspired by real events, is set after World War I. Bale plays a doctor helping injured war veterans and Washington a lawyer

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(From left) Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington in a still from Amsterdam.
James Mottram

4/5 stars

David O. Russell returns with Amsterdam, his first film since 2015’s Joy with Jennifer Lawrence. His latest effort is a sprawling historical comedy-thriller, set in the interwar years and featuring an unbelievably starry cast.

Led by Christian Bale and John David Washington, as two soldier buddies from the first world war, it offers an embarrassment of riches, with roles for the likes of Chris Rock, Zoe Saldaña, Robert De Niro, Andrea Riseborough, Mike Myers, Rami Malek and Anya Taylor-Joy.

The story is inspired by real-life historical events, although the characters have been amalgamated and fictionalised. Bale plays Burt Berendsen, a doctor who helps soldiers with wartime injuries manage their pain. He bears his own scars from the Great War, including a wonky glass eye.

Washington co-stars as a lawyer, Harold Woodman, who drags Burt into an engrossing case when a young woman (Taylor Swift) asks for their help by performing an autopsy on her senator father, whom she suspects of being murdered.

So begins a propulsive adventure that soon sees Burt and Harold accused of a crime they didn’t commit and forced to clear their names. What ultimately emerges is a conspiracy that goes right to the heart of government, the military and American corporate culture.

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