The Phoenician Scheme: A Cold & Mechanical Outing from a Beloved Filmmaker (Blu-ray)

The Film:

World-renowned filmmaker & recent Oscar winner Wes Anderson has given us some remarkably impressive films over the course of his career, including "Rushmore," "The Royal Tenenbaums," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," and "The Grand Budapest Hotel," which earned him his only Best Director Oscar nomination thus far. However, in recent years, he has been struggling quite a bit to deliver another compelling feature, giving us rather bland, forgettable, and somewhat plodding works like "The French Dispatch" and "Asteroid City" instead. Now he's back with his next attempt, another star-studded & handsomely-mounted project entitled "The Phoenician Scheme." Will this be the one to finally bring him out of his creative funk, or will it merely turn out to be further evidence that he's perhaps simply run out of good ideas?

Taking place in 1950, the film primarily focuses on Anatole "Zsa-Zsa" Korda (Benicio del Toro), an industrialist & arms dealer who is incredibly rich. After surviving yet another assassination attempt, he opts to make his only daughter, a novice nun named Liesl (Mia Threapleton), his sole heir. Their relationship isn't particularly great given that he sent her to live in a convent when she was five, on top of the rumor that he may have murdered his mother, a charge he adamantly denies, but she eventually agrees to try it on a trial basis.

Meanwhile, governments around the world plot together to bring Korda down, eventually manipulating the market to affect a massive business venture that he has been working on for quite some time. Once the threat becomes apparent, Korda embarks on a trip with Leisl and their tutor, Bjorn (Michael Cera), to visit his various business partners in an effort to deceptively alter their original agreements in order to cover the needed funds, a task that is certainly a lot easier said than done.

As mentioned, writer/director Wes Anderson has been having a bit of difficulty lately delivering satisfying feature projects, which has left many fans hoping that "The Phoenician Scheme" would finally be the one to get him back on track. On the outset, we have a mildly intriguing plot of a rich businessman who has miraculously survived multiple assassination attempts and now wants to smooth over his relationship with his daughter in order to make her his heir, which naturally comes complete with the usual gorgeous production design, beautiful cinematography, and, of course, a remarkable A-list cast.

However, as the film proceeds, a rather strange & unfortunate thing happens in that the story becomes a very cold, distant, and mechanical experience as the focus shifts almost entirely to Korda's business operations, primarily turning into a film that has him going from meeting to meeting and trying to arrange funds for his massive venture. When it comes to Anderson's films, you can typically count on there being a fair amount of levity, fun, and quirkiness, but when it comes to "The Phoenician Scheme," those elements are sadly in very short supply, echoing a somewhat similar problem from his last two features.

The cast is certainly quite impressive, featuring some remarkable talent like Benicio del Toro, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Bryan Cranston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Scarlett Johansson, and Riz Ahmed, but as always, even a great ensemble like this is going to have trouble elevating a screenplay that's rather flat & lifeless. At the very least, they are mildly interesting to watch as they parade about the impressive sets & locations that the film has to offer, an element you can always count on, whether the writing is on the level or not.

Overall, it is most unfortunate to see such an incredible filmmaker deliver yet another disappoint like this. There was certainly some potential there, but once he steers the story into Korda's business affairs, that's exactly what the film ends up feeling like, a project that became little more than a business transaction for Anderson. Luckily, he's already hard at work on his next feature, collaborating once more with Roman Coppola (co-story author on this film), with the only hint given thus far being that it has a certain darkness to it, so perhaps he's trying to shake things up a bit by going in a slightly different direction.

As before, all we can really do is hope that they'll take a little more time developing this next project in order to make sure that it's far more compelling & engaging that what we've been getting lately. Anderson is indeed a very talented filmmaker, now he just needs to step back and remember what made his films so special in the first place. Once he does so, he'll see what's been missing from his last few projects and see what needs to be fixed, and thus finally have a chance to return to the level of greatness he once had, a day that all of his fans are patiently waiting for.

Video/Audio:

"The Phoenician Scheme" comes to Blu-ray in a 1.47:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of outstanding quality. The picture is beautifully sharp & clear throughout the entire 101-minute duration, perfectly highlighting Adam Stockhausen's stunning production design and Bruno Delbonnel's incredible cinematography. Likewise, the 2.0 Dolby Atmos audio track is marvelous, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and Alexandre Desplat's score in excellent quality. Overall, Universal has done a fantastic job in both areas for the film's physical release.

Special Features:

Behind The Phoenician Scheme (15 Minutes): A series of four featurettes that takes you behind the scenes of the film, focusing on The Cast, The Airplane, Marseille Bob's, and Zsa-Zsa's World.

Conclusion:

Wes Anderson's "The Phoenician Scheme" features more of the typical stunning production design & cinematography we've come to expect from his films, as well as another remarkable A-list cast packed with big stars, but sadly the story, which starts off with a fair amount of potential, becomes rather cold, distant, and mechanical when it switches its primarily focus to its main character's business dealings, ultimately making the film feel like little more than a plodding business transaction for its writer/director.

Score: 2.5/5

Available on Blu-ray starting tomorrow.

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