Eddington never takes off as it refuses to engage with any themes it presents. Despite stunning cinematography and an ensemble of great performances, the film is a slug to watch. The ending, however, is exactly what the film and perhaps we all deserve, things may never get better and will continue to disintegrate through our screens as we go about our business. 

Ari Aster explores a collective trauma most experienced during the lockdown of the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic set through a turbulent election in a fictitious New Mexico small town, Eddington. The film yearns to be a modern Western set within a dark comedy, but the film fails on every front to deliver absolutely nothing of importance to say or even a fun time. This is yet another massive creative swing for the writer/director after two modern horror masterpieces with Hereditary and Midsommar diving into an insane odyssey with Beau is Afraid, Eddington feels like a new chapter in Aster’s wheelhouse. Personally, Beau is Afraid did not work for me but was a thrilling look at what the director could pull off and creatively the story he could tell; I’d prefer a million films that were swings like that trying to do something new and unique rather than what was expected. Eddington, while a swing, is a failure with nothing to say nor anything fresh being done on screen. Despite some of the best cinematography of the year, many directorial flexes from Aster, and a great ensemble filled with incredible performances, Eddington is genuinely a chore to watch. 

Eddington follows as Joaquin Phoenix plays Joe Cross, the sheriff of the fictional New Mexico town during the early months of the 2020 pandemic. Joe at first politely pushes back on COVID restrictions but he is constantly surrounded by right-wing radio and videos on his phone and from his wife, Louise (Emma Stone), and her mother, Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell). Dawn is seen with typical boomer associated conspiracy theories; however, Louise goes a bit more extreme with videos from a self-proclaimed messiah, Vernon Jefferson Peak (a very underused Austin Butler). There’s a palpable tension between Joe and the current mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) that continues to be brought up without being fully explored until closer to the end of the film. When protests over the police murder of George Floyd begin spreading throughout the United States, Joe and his two fellow police offers, Guy (Luke Grimes) and Mike (Michael Ward) prepare for the same reaction in Eddington. There is a scratch at exploring why two white police officers are responding differently versus one of the seemingly only Black members of the community, Mike. It’s only touched at arm’s length and feels not properly explored to even be part of the plot, which is something pretty substantial to ignore when making part of the film’s plot centering around reaction to Floyd’s real death. 

Satires need to know their target confidentially in order to precisely attack their subject. Eddington takes on so many topics from the toxicity of social media, police brutality, George Floyd, COVID, racism, white supremacy, pedophilia, land disputes and somehow more, but it becomes bogged down with absolutely nothing to say. It’s not that Aster has to say something but what is the point of exploring all these topics only surface deep? He’s a bold filmmaker and his massive swings, even if they don’t always work, still feel interesting, however, Eddington never feels interesting outside of the performances and cinematography. It’s all just shallow jabs with spelling errors in campaign signs and boomers getting their news off Facebook, but it is an important distinction that Aster isn’t just taking hits at the far-right, both sides are put on blast in the film for their extreme behavior and overall approach to yelling without actually doing anything. While it could have been effective as he spoofs the self-serving behavior of privileged white people, primarily younger students, as performative, it mostly pops up just time to time to remind audiences of how heavy-handed some response was in the early times of the pandemic. 

The issue for me feels Aster is never differentiating between people who are acting out of hate in complete poor faith versus people who are pushing for their values. Everything feels considered equal and it’s not even about right versus left, this is a film dealing with police brutality, racism, and wealth inequality that leads to death, there is no way to equate the action items. It feels not even worth a discourse around the movie because its merely presenting all these things are poorly explored plot devices rather than themes worth tackling, which is a shame from someone as powerful as a writer as Aster. Eddington never takes off as it refuses to engage with any themes it presents. Despite stunning cinematography and an ensemble of great performances, the film is a slug to watch. The ending, however, is exactly what the film and perhaps we all deserve, things may never get better and will continue to disintegrate through our screens as we go about our business. 

Grade: C

Oscars Prospects:
Likely: None
Should be Considered: Best Cinematography

Release Date: July 18, 2025
Where to Watch: In Theaters