ARMAGEDDON TIME

The picture is easy to digest and contains a cast of heavy-hitters but as a James Gray film, it ranks in the lower echelons.

In the past three decades James Gray has carved out quite the intriguing niche with movies that differ greatly in genre and style but always have fascinating characters at their core. Thus it is a bit disappointing that Armageddon Time, a fictionalised memoir of the director’s early eighties upbringing falls short on that account specifically.

Despite a cast containing awards magnets Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Strong and Jessica Chastain the picture mostly stumbles from one decent anecdote to the next without ever revealing all that much about either the precocious lead character or the environment he grows up in.

Gray does neatly convey the core message about privilege, with the same nuance that elevated so many of his previous films, but in Armageddon Time most of the themes are suffocated by a lack of urgency and a dearth of one-of-a-kind scenes.

The picture remains one that is easy to digest and is still a cut above the majority of other films out there. But as a James Gray film, it ranks in the lower echelons.

release: 2022

director: James Gray

starring: Banks Repeta, Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Strong