A24’s newest film “Opus” hit theaters March 14 after premiering at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 27. The film initially received pretty mediocre reviews at Sundance and has since garnered average to bad reviews by critics and the public, most of whom agree the film doesn’t stand out and is all over the place. While I initially had high hopes for this film because the general plot sounded intriguing and I am a big Ayo Edebiri fan, I unfortunately have to agree with the general consensus that this film falls flat.
“Opus” follows Ariel (Ayo Edebiri), a struggling journalist who gets invited, along with a group of other press professionals, to attend a listening party for one of the most popular pop stars from the 1990s, Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich). The classic superstar released the new album after he disappeared for 30 years. However, the group soon discovers that Moretti is a part of a cult, and they find themselves stuck in the middle of his disconcerting plan.
I think we’re at a point where we see a movie with some variation of this gory, cult-related thriller plot basically every year, like “Blink Twice,” “The Menu,” “Midsommar” and “Get Out.” Unfortunately, I think “Opus” might be one of the worst iterations of this plot, mainly because it has no impact on the audience.
The concept is inherently interesting, and in theory it should be a poignant, yet campy film exploring celebrity culture, but it was executed in such a dull and confusing way that it doesn’t have the intended effect.
The casts’ performances were pretty good, and I do think Edebiri specifically made the film more engaging for me because she shines anytime she’s on screen. Production design also made the film more enjoyable; the visuals helped create the cultish scenery that was needed for the plot and immersed the audience in the world with dramatic costumes, an impressive set and convincing special effects.
The film also featured original songs by the fictional pop star. While they were fine, I think they did a bit of a disservice to Moretti’s character. He was built up to be one of the most influential pop stars of the ‘90s and he claimed his new album would be one of the best works of art to ever exist, even declaring that he “became God” while creating it. So, while the songs weren’t bad, they did not meet this expectation of greatness. The positive reception they got from the guests was unconvincing and it made Moretti’s role in this fictionalized world and its pop culture less believable.
However, the part that really led the movie astray was the plot and messaging. I found the pacing to be very slow, taking half of the movie until a murder occurs. Most of the action only takes place in the last 20-30 minutes and it wasn’t very gripping overall.
I think one of the biggest things this film was missing was its shock value. If you compare it to similar movies in the genre, they all have very disturbing themes and images that legitimately haunt you after watching them. This movie’s problem is that it felt like it was scared to show any actual action or gore. While there were some gross images, most of the high-action moments weren’t even shown to the audience as they either happened behind closed doors or it would simply cut away midway into the action. Additionally, the moments that had the most gore or shock value seemed very unrealistic and had confusing explanations, so it didn't affect the viewer as much as it could have.
On top of this, typically movies of this kind have the captors, or cult in this case, doing strange and spooky things throughout the movie to hint that things are not normal and to add suspense. However, the “strange” things the cult was doing really weren’t that creepy. It seemed like the movie wanted the audience to be put off or disturbed by a man opening a bunch of oysters or people passing a roll of bread down a table and all taking a bite, which is weird but not at all spooky.
So, it feels like you’re waiting the whole movie for things to start getting crazy and just as the action starts picking up, it’s over.
Another big problem with this movie is that it tries to say too much and ended up not really saying much at all. The film attempts to make commentary on celebrity culture, the toxicity of celebrity press, religious beliefs and the power of creativity all at once. While there were some strong moments, like exemplifying the cruelty of how the press treated Billie Holiday, these small moments weren’t really enough to deliver a solid, strong message. As soon as a certain theme was introduced and I started to understand the point of the film, the movie shifted onto another topic. By the end I was left asking myself what the filmmaker wanted me to take away at all.
I think if it had focused more on the treatment of celebrities by the press, the message would have been stronger and more fleshed out. This would have made the film feel more coherent and would have given the plot more structure.
While this isn’t an inherently bad movie, it just feels like nothing. If you’re looking for a movie of this genre to watch, I think it would be a much better use of your time to watch one of the other similar movies I listed above, as watching “Opus” will simply leave you wondering if you just wasted two hours of your life.
