Eddington (2025) Review

Since the genre’s inception, the western has been synonymous with America. Lone gunmen facing a corrupt system with nothing but a few bullets and a strong moral code is perhaps one of the earliest American myth-making traditions; but in a post-COVID world, belief in these myths has faltered. The rising cost of living, right-wing conspiracies and mass protests against the US support of the Palestinian genocide have eroded what little trust was left in institutions that were once represented by John Wayne on the silver screen. This degeneration laid the groundwork for Ari Aster to completely upend the genre in his latest offering. Set during the early days of the COVID pandemic, following an anti-mask sheriff who decides to run for mayor against a corrupt incumbent, it’s a wonderfully chaotic exploration of power and modernity, and is perhaps my favorite movie of the year thus far.

It’s kind of incredible just how much Aster was able to fit into a single script. AI’s effect on the environment provides a backdrop against which the corruption and self-delusion unfolds. There are questions of class, gender and race. It’d have been easy for Aster to give us another ham-fisted political allegory, but I appreciated how his scathing insights were pointed at both sides of the spectrum, capturing the extremist nonsense pervading right-wing spaces as well as the performative shallowness of liberal politics. While it confines itself to these two sides of the same coin, eschewing any mention of a more radical politics, I still think the film does a great job at showing how American voters are really only given one choice when it comes to the ballot. Aster highlighting the emptiness of contemporary US politics is reminiscent of the spaghetti westerns that took a more critical view of American history than the previous John Wayne flicks of yesteryear. By highlighting our lack of choices and showing that there is no one good guy when it comes to current US politics, Aster is illuminating the need for radical alternatives. Positioning liberals and conservatives as being two sides of the same corrupt coin is something Aster accomplishes partially through his fantastic writing, but also through a very sharp visual language.

Composition is important here, with the Sheriff and Mayor always being shown on opposite sides of the frame, oppositional yet equal. In a movie that’s partially about media and its effect on the vox populi, it makes sense that there are so many screens throughout painting the characters in a sickly digital glow. The camerawork is also very purposeful, using pans and rack focuses to reveal important information while leaning into the visual element of the medium. In one particularly memorable shootout, the lighting is classically neo-noir, reminiscent of the Coen Brothers’ best work, using neon lights to create a stark contrast with shadows that pervade the vast expanse of New Mexico’s landscape, helping us feel the surreal danger these characters find themselves in. Some very wide shots also use those vast tracks of desert to imbue the frame with a sense of loneliness and alienation, both emotions that continue to characterize modern life, but especially mid-and-post-pandemic. These emotions are conveyed so effectively because of how foregrounded they are in the actors’ performances.

As usual, Joaquin Pheonix does no wrong here. He embodies Sheriff Cross with such commitment, capturing the nuances one would expect from someone masking insecurity with hyper-masculinity. This is his second collaboration with Aster and it seems like a match made in heaven! Pedro Pascal’s Mayor Garcia is also interesting, but gets much less screen time than I originally expected; that being said, this is perhaps his most interesting performance to date. He’s still playing the slick charmer, but this time that slickness gives way to something slimy that I found to be pretty intriguing. I also appreciated Emma Stone playing Cross’ conspiracist wife, but she also didn’t get a ton of time onscreen to really explore her character. Despite that, she feels very central to the plot’s tension, providing a window into the Sheriff’s interior life and also allowing for some really interesting commentary on the cult-like movement of rightist politics. In many of her scenes there’s also a cool use of the sound design, filtering in radio shows and news programs spouting wild conspiracies, something that has sadly now become commonplace.

In light of its economic downturn, political isolation and increased repression, it would be fair to categorize today’s America as a dying empire. I think that’s what makes Aster’s decision to make a western so smart. What better avenue to explore the decline of a civilization than a genre that once celebrated its rise to prominence? Sharply written, beautifully shot and incredibly well-acted, this is a movie that’s so chaotic it’s hard to capture just how wild it is in a review, so I hope you see it in theaters this weekend and find out for yourself!