Review: The Apprentice

A good biopic film about a disgusting person or a lackluster film?

That's a question I was asking myself while the movie started to play on my screen. The movie goes dive down into the story of Donald Trump, his beginnings, the rise of power and how he was obsessed with control and money. It‘s an interesting depiction of someone who is truly beyond human, because Trump nowadays is a controversial figure, a disgusting one and a president that probably will have universal opinions about his actions, but this movie showcases the HOW. 

The movie is directed by Ali Abbbasi, and this production was made as an indie film, they didn‘t have enough money at first to fund the entire film, they cut too much footage and reshot and even at one point, they tried to film in the Trump Tower. The script offers good insight into the creation of a monster, but is it all true? Maybe, maybe not. 

Donald Trump is in fact a sociopath and it shows, but the real asset of this movie is how good the performances are. 

Sebastian Stan plays Trump to perfection, the mannerisms, the dialogue, the way he talks and embodies the character is something truly captivating, not only is his performance great, but also offers like a big comparison when we delve into distinct aspects of his life. But, the applause goes to Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, he was INCREDIBLE. Cohn is in fact a mentor to Trump and Strong embodied Cohn in a way, you‘re not watching Jeremy screaming like Kendall Roy, he is Cohn. He is known to do method acting, and here it shows what a real talent he is. All the secondary actors are great, every one gave it all to perform their roles, but these two, even the chemistry feels raw and real.

But, the film stumbles with his slow pace, the cinematography is well crafted, resembling the 70s footage in the first act, the 1980s camcorder style in the second, and by the end we see a little bit of the 360p of the 2000s. It‘s a progression and I felt truly engaged with that part, but the film fell down when the editing couldn‘t save it. Even in the slow parts, the movie doesn‘t find his voice to feel it sufficient to still continue. We‘re seeing how a monster was formed and how eventually became the person he is, but other than that, the movie doesn‘t offer anything new to the table. The film is saved by the two great performances of the main cast, and the stellar direction, but the script doesn‘t do anything else worth saving and here it feels rough at times, and the editing, the transitions doesn‘t help to shape the film that it wants to be. 

But at the end of the day, it‘s a film that could be beneficial to show at the right time and how even Donald Trump was not happy about it. The message was clear and the intentions, but the movie could do a better job to convey those emotions and meaning.  This film will be remembered for the leap of faith and the risky thing to show an actual president's background and to show it to everyone around the world and be laughing about it. And also, because of those great performances that will pass the books of the best performances to ever put in film.