REVIEW #296 Asteroid City (2023)

World changing events spectacularly impact the itinerary of a young group of stargazers and genius prospects in a small town in the Desert, circa 1955.

Asteroid City is a beautifully constructed movie from a cinematography standpoint, including all of the trademark Wes Anderson shots, colours and set designs, that make his films so unique. From a story perspective, it actually makes a lot more sense compared to some of his previous works, it’s relatively easy to follow and the two stories that run alongside each other are very clearly connected. Unfortunately I found the humour wasn’t the strongest in Asteroid city, that awkward, straight talking dialogue is still there but the discrete punchlines just weren’t as effective. 

When it comes to the cast, it can compete with Oppenheimer for how stacked it is and they all worked incredibly well together. There’s even a couple of tiny cameos that just fit perfectly within the film. However, across the entire cast there is a nice mix of ages and experience in the industry but I actually think it was the younger members of the cast who stole the show. Their comedy almost always landed and stylistically, they were just perfect for an Anderson movie. 

There is no doubt that Wes Anderson’s films are quite divisive, I find myself absolutely hating The French Dispatch but I fell in love with Darjeeling Limited and The Grand Budapest Hotel. I think Asteroid City falls firmly in the middle. Audiences unfamiliar with the directors style might find it rather slow and that was indeed the case with the person I took with me to view their first Wes Anderson film. She didn’t like it one bit and even the biggest fans of his can see why people dislike the movies. Nonetheless, there’s a lot to enjoy here and despite it feeling rather slow, the beautiful cinematography and the amazing cast pulls you through nicely. I’d definitely recommend getting out to the cinema to watch it because the sound effects and the set designs just have a certain beauty on the big screen. 

Overall (7/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan