Amsterdam Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

3. The INSANE Ensemble Cast

Amsterdam touts perhaps the best ensemble cast of the entire year, and the sheer number of talented actors who show up in this thing frankly becomes ridiculous.

Beyond the fine upfront work from Christian Bale and Margot Robbie, Robert De Niro is also rather terrific as the well-meaning General Gil Dillenbeck, while Anya Taylor-Joy and Rami Malek are dryly funny as a pair of well-to-do siblings who play a crucial part in the wider story.

Elsewhere Mike Myers and Michael Shannon are hilarious as two conspicuous undercover spies, and Matthias Schoenaerts and Alessandro Nivola steal basically every scene they're in as two bumbling detectives working on the central murder case.

Beyond that, there are so many actors who show up for a quick scene or two: Chris Rock, Zoe Saldaña, Timothy Olyphant, Andrea Riseborough, Ed Begley Jr., and Leland Orser. Hell, even Taylor Swift is in this thing for a brief spell and, honestly, not too bad.

While the sheer star-studdedness risks pulling audiences out of the story, there is an undeniable fun in seeing so many skilled performers working together, even if only for a couple of scenes a pop.