Francis Ford Coppola's film is an epic failure

Rome wasn't built in a day, but Francis Ford Coppola's Roman epic Megalopolis falls apart over the course of 138 minutes.

Although the ambition, visual style and star-studded cast are good enough on paper to work, the sci-fi epic (★½ out of 4; rated R; in cinemas Friday) ultimately proves to be a disappointing, nonsensical jumble of messages and metaphors from a master of the cinematic arts. Coppola's legend is undoubtedly secure: Apocalypse Now is the best war film ever made, and the Godfather films speak for themselves. But he's also had some serious misfires (“Jack” and “Twixt,” anyone?), and this runaway wagon of incoherence definitely falls into that category.

The setting of this so-called “fable” is New Rome, which might as well be New York City, but with a more golden, exaggerated touch. (The Statue of Liberty and Times Square are slightly altered, and Madison Square Garden is effectively a covered Colosseum.) Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) is a progressive-minded architect who heads the city's design agency and has the ability to stop time. He plans to use this magical new building material called Megalon to spruce up his decaying city.

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However, he has made many enemies, including the corrupt and conservative mayor of New Rome, Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). Cicero calls Cesar a “reckless dreamer” who wants to maintain New Rome's status quo at all costs. His anger grows, however, when his more idealistic daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) begins working for Cesar and then becomes his lover.

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