The reactions are starting to roll in for Damien Chazelle's ode to Old Hollywood Babylon. Before the rest of the world will see the starry drama on December 23, several journalists got an early peak into the star-studded world of excess and shared some of their general thoughts on it all. With a legendary cast befitting its show business premise, the film explores the period between silent films and talkies with real-life titans of Hollywood intermingling with fictional characters created for the feature. Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt lead the ensemble of larger-than-life figures who rise and fall through one of the most famously decadent and depraved eras in Tinseltown.Babylon marks a return to movie-making for Chazelle whose own star shot into the stratosphere fairly recently with the release of 2014's Whiplash. He'd go on to reach the pinnacle of Hollywood stardom with La La Land in 2016, winning his first Oscar for Best Director and becoming the youngest recipient of the award at only 32 years old. He followed that up with First Man, a biopic chronicling the journey of Neil Armstrong which earned critical acclaim in its own right. Needless to say, Chazelle's pedigree alone made his first film in four years one to look forward to and early glimpses from trailers and other promotional materials tease a return of epic scale for the director.The exciting cast also put the project on everyone's watch list, featuring a veritable who's who of Hollywood superstars from across the industry. Robbie and Pitt are joined by Olivia Wilde, Samara Weaving, Jean Smart, Li Jun Li, Jovan Adepo, Katherine Waterston, Flea, Lukas Haas, Rory Scovel, P.J. Byrne, Spike Jonze, Chloe Fineman, Jeff Garlin, and Max Minghella. While the names involved in the project are certainly fun, who they play is often just as entertaining. Fresh off of returning as Spider-Man in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Tobey Maguire was tasked with becoming a silent film extraordinaire for the film.
See Babylon First Reactions Below
Plenty of blood, sweat, and tears went into making Babylon something special, especially since it's a project that Chazelle has wanted to do ever since his move out to Los Angeles 15 years ago. He's since described it in an Entertainment Weekly interview as "like the story of Los Angeles itself," complete with all warts, drama, and larger-than-life figures that made Hollywood what it is today. Check out how journalists and critics from around the industry are responding to Chazelle's massive undertaking below:
Collider's own Steve Weintraub and Perri Nemiroff shared their thoughts on the film, both of which gave very even reactions to the cocaine-infused "manic visuals" that the film features.
Other critics provided more reactionary reviews of the film, with Scott Menzel calling it a "mess of a film" and Erik Weber calling it a "flaming hot mess,"
On the other side of the spectrum, critics like Clayton Davis, Courtney Howard, and Jeff Nelson seemed to relish the messiness of the film, seeing it as a "daring epic," 'the internet's new favorite movie," and a "dizzying cacophony of demented depravity."
See for yourself when Babylon hits theaters on December 23.