Directed By Ali Abbasi

Starring – Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova

The Plot – 1970s New York: determined to emerge from his powerful father’s shadow and make a name for himself in Manhattan real estate, aspiring mogul Donald J. Trump (Stan) is in the earliest days of his career when he encounters the man who will become one of the most important figures in his life: political fixer Roy Cohn (Strong). Seeing promise in young Donald, the influential attorney, who secured espionage convictions against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and investigated suspected Communists alongside Senator Joseph McCarthy, teaches his new acolyte how to amass wealth and power through deception, intimidation, and media manipulation. The rest is history.

Rated R for sexual content, some graphic nudity, adult language, sexual assault, and drug use.

The Apprentice | Official Trailer | Exclusively in Theaters October 11 (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

Behind every power hungry millionaire is a sneering advocate to feed his insatiable greed, and through Abbasi’s seething depiction of Trump’s rise to power, unearths many compelling and unsettling truths that drives a narrative that was built for the silver screen, with cinematic appeal in nearly every category that makes this the most ambitious product for Briarcliff Entertainment, to date. Instead of illustrating the conniving politician that we’ve come to understand, today, ‘The Apprentice’ instead depicts an unconfident and seemingly vulnerable Donald Trump before his globalized stature, that only becomes a master manipulator from Cohn’s expertise in guidance, and throughout a character evolution that takes each of them in completely different and separable directions, we come to realize the elements that drove his desire towards commanding power, with several unique ironies in the depths of the movie’s dialogue, which hints not only at familiar aspects in his character, but also the provoking towards politics that serves as the precedent to where we currently stand. It’s also fearless cinema from Abbasi, who stitches together facts and allegations towards Trump as the basis to outline this impenetrable line of audacity that he elicits as a result of rich privilege. While we certainly always knew that Donald was a product of upper class ideals, what I didn’t know were some dark and truly grisly details pertaining to city kickbacks and even his time with Ivana Trump, that were much disturbing, and it’s certainly easy to understand why Donald doesn’t want this movie seeing the light of day, especially on the eve of another election. On top of a thorough character study, the film is also a candid portrait of urgency within its New York City setting, with meticulous variation in the movie’s production designs that seamlessly make the audience feel like they’re watching footage shot during the respective decades projected in the film. Cinematographer Kasper Tuxen is the primary breadwinner here, with grainy, mockumentary stylized visuals that simultaneously breed invasiveness and believability in the air of their captures, making the Big Apple feel every bit the gritty and grimy backdrop that birthed the Son of Sam during such a period. Thankfully, Tuxen isn’t forced to go it alone, as the designs emitting naturalized lighting, as well as the movie’s decade-dependent soundtrack, really bring to life this essence of personality from the city that plays equally integral towards the film’s tonal consistency, in what makes Abbasi’s direction feel like a descendent of Adam McKay productions of the past. The soundtrack proves that the production spared no expense in the big hits that it brandishes towards the film’s integrity, but I gladly traded it in by the film’s midway point for an organ-heavy score from Martin Dirkov, which reminded me of the swelling and intense compositions conjured in Oliver Stone’s ‘Scarface’, especially for how they play so dramatically to such devious actions that are truly unforgivable. But even beyond everything previously special about what I have outlined about the film, the performances are foundation to which the quality is built on, with Stan and Strong garnering breathtaking transformations that feel like the embodied their respective characters, instead of put on a Saturday Night Live level of impression. This is most accountable towards Stan, who as Trump remarkably channels the nuances like vocal inflections with a hint of New York accent, and facial mannerisms that afford the audience the accessibility to see this believably as Trump under the right light. Visually, his portrayal is credible enough with the costume and make-up working wonders to transform somebody who doesn’t look anything like Donald, but Stan’s work as a gifted presence is on firm display here, especially once the script starts to open Trump’s personality up during the second half, in which Stan balances arrogance and ignorance accordingly to conjure someone so detached from reality. Then there’s Strong, who somehow wield the Herculian strength to steal this film from Stan’s clutches, despite so much of the focus pertaining creatively to Trump. Strong’s dead eyes and matter-of-fact deliveries prove effective towards the film’s depiction robbing him of any degree of empathetic remorse, but it’s all second fiddle to the unflinching confidence in demeanor that he casually delivers to thoughts so devoid of humanity, earning Strong and essentially Cohn the on-screen magnetism that makes it difficult for audiences to look away from.

NEGATIVES

While I had a good time with ‘The Apprentice’, I can’t overlook key distractions that occasionally made this a sloppy and even directionless mess, particularly during the film’s inferior second half, which never finds the kind of consistent footing to storytelling that it did during the first half. Within this section, the film becomes a series of montages as it casually skips over many years, all the while abandoning the compelling dynamic between Trump and Cohn that momentously drove the narrative, and while I can understand that the film’s two hour run time can’t include everything that happened in Trump’s time growing in New York, it feels too scatterbrained to remain faithfully focused, driving a wedge into the cohesiveness of the material, which was far better suited with patience and precision. This section of the film also undercuts the effectiveness of key performances, mainly Bakalova as Ivana Trump, who goes completely wasted in a story that her character is a major contributor towards. If Bakalova hasn’t shown tremendous range in ‘Borat 2’ and ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’, then I could’ve definitely overlooked this disappointing hinderance, but it wastes away tremendous casting in somebody who legitimately looks and feels like her real life counterpart, in turn making her appearance feel like one of the continuous extras who shuffle casually in and out of frame, with little to no relevance of their summoning. Finally, a bit of a personal choice to me would’ve had the movie embracing more comedy during the opening act, especially with characters so rough around the edges that it’s difficult to invest and feel compelled by them, at least immediately. If the film used more caustic wit, similar to the aforementioned Adam McKay films, then the tone would’ve mirrored the three act evolution of its protagonist in ways that could’ve lured the audience more into the irredeemable city politician that he eventually became, granting us a more palpable indication of the materialistic shift that drove much of his toxic ambition.

OVERALL
‘The Apprentice’ plays by its own rules inside of a controversial biopic that chooses to examine the early days of Trump’s voracious greed, all enhanced by mesmerizingly authentic turns from Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong balancing the humanity and remorselessness of their memorable personalities. Despite an entertaining exploration within a palpably withering 70’s New York City landscape, the film doesn’t quite grasp the collective extent of its enamoring potential, with an unfocused second half that compromises a significant amount of the production’s momentum, without truly sacrificing the appeal of its insightful look at this unconventional American dream narrative.

My Grade: 7/10 or B-