User reviews

"Opus" starts with strong promise, pulling viewers in with its intriguing premise and some great music. The Moretti tracks are undeniably a highlight, complementing the emotional depth of the film and elevating its scenes.

However, the film's strength begins to falter as it progresses, especially with its underwhelming conclusion. While the opening is engaging, the ending feels rushed and fails to deliver the emotional payoff it sets up.

It's a shame, as the book was Ariel Ecton's ultimate goal but the scene just seems tacked on at the end, leaving the narrative feeling incomplete. Overall, while "Opus" is an enjoyable watch, it leaves much to be desired.

What starts as a tense, creepy, something's-off-here cult movie ends as a confusing mess with little to no payoff.

The acting by the leads (Edebiri, Malkovich, Bartlett) was superb, whereas the other characters were all lacking depth, boring, and filler for the sake of what this movie considers to be "plot." Edebiri, as always, is fantastic at her craft, able to express so many emotions in her facial expressions, eye movements, and tone of voice. Malkovich is wonderful and plays the icon of Moretti perfectly. Bartlett plays a lovable asshole who you would never want as your boss, and he's damn good at the role.

A lot of the odd elements in this movie felt like things the writers threw in for the sake of making the movie feel more eerie and unsettling while simultaneously never offering any explanation or reason as to why they were included.

The first act felt a little long, act two ramped up way too fast and increased the stakes way too soon, and act three was a mess that had no pacing direction whatsoever. The very middle of act two felt like what should have been the midway point of act three, so when act three starts everything feels rushed to try and catch up with the feelings evoked already in the previous act.

What I watched was a hodgepodge of ideas with a half-baked story poorly attempting to tie it all together. It's as if someone mashed together Jonestown, pop icons David Bowie and Prince, Midsommar, and Get Out into a giant nothing burger. Really disappointed in this, though I still feel like it's worth seeing once just to feel the weight of certain scenes that were actually executed great. Even the cinematography was stunning, but the plot was a turd painted gold. 5.5/10.

I went to a Cineworld Unlimited card holders preview of "Opus" earlier this week. I can see why it hasn't been well reviewed, but I have to admit that I rather enjoyed it.

After three decades out of public life, Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich), the biggest popstar of the 90's announces a new album and invites several selected journalists and influencers to his compound, for a weekend listening party. Included in the group is Ariel (Aye Edebiri) an inexperienced journalist at a culture magazine. As the group arrive, they discover that Moretti's compound is home to a number of passionate followers, though only Ariel seems to be concerned by the unsettling vibe of the place.

As I say, I can understand the complaints that people have had. I don't think it explores the things it's talking about very well. There are nods to celebrity indulgence and cult experiences. Thinly veiled jibes at scientology and at how magazine journalism works. But nods is all they are. Once the secrets of the film start to spill out, it briefly becomes a relatively standard horror film and then ends with a hint of a twist. This section is perhaps where the film is it's most basic and it's reasonably dull at this point.

I preferred it a lot more in the first half, where the film reminded me a lot of "Midsommar". An isolated environment where the existing group may, or may not, have malevolent intent towards the confused guests. Malkovich is having a ball as Moretti and whilst I never quite bought that the music would be "world altering pop" it's pitched as - I did at least think that the Nile Rodgers provided jams were good.

I think that there's not enough here to recommend that you head out to the cinema to see the film, but in the more forgiving world of home viewing, it'll find its fans.

I had high hopes for Opus, especially since it promised to explore the dark side of celebrity culture. John Malkovich is incredible as always, playing Alfred Moretti, a reclusive pop star inviting industry elites to his mysterious desert compound. The setting was stunning, and the mood was appropriately eerie. But somewhere along the way, the story lost me. It felt like the film wanted to be profound and unsettling, but it didn't have enough depth to really deliver. The characters felt like caricatures, and the horror elements were stylish but shallow. It's one of those films where the concept is better than the execution. I wanted to be immersed, but I ended up feeling detached.

Opus started off pretty solid but fell apart in the final act. It's similar to other stories like Midsommar, Get Out, Blink Twice, The Menu, etc. So this wasn't anything new, but that wasn't much of an issue for me. The problem is in the explanation for what drives the cult. What it's about - its purpose. Malkovich's character sorta kinda attempts to offer an explanation at the end, but it didn't feel sufficiently solid enough to patch up the holes created by that issue. The acting in here was great though, and it was fun to see Malkovich ham it up the way he did. This was director Mark Anthony Green's first film, and he was also the writer. He has potential, as evidenced by the strong first half of the story. But he needs a bit more work to stick the landing. Video review available on my YouTube channel.

Watched at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

A24 recently seems to be having a slump with their horror movies because while Opus has a good concept and a good performance from Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich, it's exhausting narrative, repetitive nature, and bland structure fails to impress itself with it's concept and becomes more of a dull and uninspired experience.

The filmmaker clearly has an vision of celebrity worshipping and cult atmospheres but it feels like a blend of many themes and ideas mashed together, that don't feel earned nor impacted. Including characters that are underdeveloped and at times, unbearable with their bad dialogue and personality. Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich really are the best aspects and even with good camerawork and production designs, the narrative and characters aren't good as they end up becoming horror cliches and predictable structure that leads with no creative moments.

A24 horror flicks are usually pretty great but in recent times, their horror works have been going down and I do hope A24 is able to get back onto track soon.

This had good potential and John Malkovich can usually be relied upon when eccentricity is needed, but the rest of this is an incomplete and rather messy reminder of "Midsommar" meets "Ten Little Indians". He is the reclusive pop star "Moretti" who announces after almost thirty years away, that he is to release his comeback album. The industry goes wild for this news and when he announces his own version of a golden ticket and invites a select group to join him for an exclusive get together at his ranch, the enthusiast journalist "Ariel" (Ayo Edebiri) accompanies her limelight hogging boss to this ultimate weekend. Of course, as soon as she arrives she finds the place akin to a cult. Loads of almost automaton acolytes, some cruelly painful oyster shucking and loads of sexually fluid flamboyance from their host all starts to get her heckles up and gradually we become aware that their is an altogether ulterior motive for this carefully contrived fine dining experience. When one of their number goes missing, well things rapidly speed to a denouement that is straight out of Agatha Christie. The point it makes in the end is actually quite a clever one, but the rest of this is all derivative and simplistic. Why were this group selected? Who are they? What have they in common with each other or with their antagonist? For something that's supposed to be random and spontaneous, the entire plot depends on characters making very specific (and not always the most natural of) choices en route. Malkovich does stand out, but that might also be as much to do with the really mediocre writing and the remainder of the cast delivering a very join-the-dots performance. Sadly, this is nothing original nor special and really disappoints.

I DO NOT understand the negative reviews. I saw some saying the movie failed at explaining what the cults goals were. Did you fall asleep?! This movie takes an unexpected turn and is quite engaging. I thought the script was concise and I kinda didn't want the movie to end. No viewer in the theater left disappointed. There were laughs, shock and absolute disgust in some scenes. I thought the ending of the movie was the cherry on top simply because the cult's goal is explained by the actions committed by the protagonist. I hope more people see this film, because I think it's that good. No character needed to be more developed. Nothing needed to be added to the script and I thought the ending was perfect.

Contrary to the tide of critical disapproval, I thought it was engaging throughout with tension and humour, even if the premise is a bit far-fetched. John Malcovitch is hilarious as the pompous and reclusive megastar, whose manic narcissism meant you could believe he might do anything to anybody around him if his ego feels the slightest knock. There are so many aging rockers still going in the world (and good luck to them!) that I don't think his supposed aging stardom or geriatric gyrations should stretch audience credulity too far. I pictured him as if Elton John had gone through the black lodge in Twin Peaks and emerged in Utah.

Extremely bland and boring. It almost feels like the script was rushed or unfinished or something. Most of the characters in the movie seem like they were just thrown in last minute.

Malkovich was alright, which was the highlight of the movie.

Ayo Edebiri gave an extremely bad acting performance. I haven't seen her in anything else, so I didn't know what to expect, but wow that was atrocious. I'll try to watch some other stuff with here because I'm not curious if this was a really bad one off, or if she's just a very untalented actor.

Anyway, if I could go back in time I'd skip this one and watch something else.

Opus (2025) is the newest movie from A24 and it was very underwhelming, but it wasn't terrible.

Positives for Opus (2025): The movie has an interesting enough plot involving the music industry. The acting is very good for what they had to work with. There are some cool things with the directing style. The movie moves at a good pace to it. And finally, the movie has a very interesting ending.

Negatives for Opus (2025): The plot has some wonky execution to it. The characters aren't interesting or well developed. I barely knew what was happening with the story. And finally, I have no idea what the point of this movie was supposed to be.

Overall, Opus (2025) is an okay but also very underwhelming movie from A24.

Ayo Edebiri stars in a new film from A24. She plays a young journalist aspiring to become a serious writer. Her boss (Murray Bartlett) keeps dismissing her for any real projects until an interesting invitation arrives. John Malkovich plays Alfred Morerti, one of the greatest pop stars in the world. Releasing to the world a new album after a prolonged and mysterious disappearance. He seems to have fun playing this character and is definitely the more likable roles in the film. The film was fun but not necessarily original and some recycled ideas can be picked up throughout. Overall, I enjoyed this film and find it to have rewatch value. Acting was solid and story line was entertaining. 7/10 would recommend.

So been wanting to watch for ages, advert looked very interesting.. But within 20 minutes in... meeting John Malc I started to worry. Its about him being an amazing musician. But he cant dance, cant move in rhythem, utterly stiff, music is okay but his singing and movement is UTTERLY revulting... Couldnt believe it. Thought well okay sadly noone checked to see if he was musical... still could be okay... But then Slowly the story began to unfold, it was utterly STUPID! It made no sense, was so moronic, Dumbfounded as a few good actors in this, so no doubt like me they thought it was good to start with then when they read the script it was too late to back out.. The actors were good, but when the story got STUPID the acting became bad, and totally unbelieveable. Aparently budget was 10 million and google said it grossed 3 million. I wonder why dont they have some people they can ask if the movie makes sense, Id love it if they actually would invest in asking people to review movies. They could create a gene pool of reviewers, see which of us actually can spot a good movie.. and hire us to guide them and save everyone wasting 90 minutes of our life. THIS IS A WASTE OF EVERYONES TIME AVOID LIKE COVID.

Opus: Another horror film about a Cult, this time it has elements of satire and dark comedy. 90s pop superstar Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich) announces a new album after 27 years in seclusion. He invites five old sparring partners to a listening party at his Utah compound. They include magazine editor Stan (Murray Bartlett), talk show host Clara (Juliette Lewis) and radio shock jock Bill (Mark Sivertsen). Surprisingly a sixth invitee is junior journalist Ariel Ecton (Ayo Edebiri), she is used to having her ideas for articles assigned to other people. Even now Stan instructs her to take notes in oddities and local colour. When they arrive at the compound they realise a cult is also present, Levelists who dress in blue. These cultists serve Moretti, laugh at his jokes and applaud his anecdotes. Things turn odd when each guest is assigned a personal concierge who follows them everywhere. The horror begins when Bill is murdered during a massage. Malkovich eats up the scenery and is obviously enjoying himself as he plays Moretti who is out to settle old scores. Each of his victims will face a unique and torturous termination if he has his way. While there are some good jokes and the dark humour manages to leaven some of the horror, the mood becomes deadly serious at times. Perhaps Opus falls between two stools here. The satire is biting, especially when a puppet show lampoons the media and celebrities. There's more than one plot twist, I'll keep quiet about them. Generally good performances. Not a great horror film but certainly a good one. Written and Directed by Mark Anthony Green. 7/10.

Opus wants to be daring and profound but mostly gives in to pretentiousness. John Malkovich is electric as a deranged ex-pop star cult leader, but everything else around him fails. The film throws gaudy images and provocative scenes against the wall and hopes something will stick-little does.

Director Mark Anthony Green is more interested in being provocative than in coming up with a coherent narrative. Characters vanish, tone shifts at random, and anything that attempts to be satirical is submerged in the bedlam. It's like a fever dream of film school with a decent soundtrack.

There's something here, but it's buried beneath masses of over-written trash and "weird for weirdness' sake" choices. One of the most frustrating films of the year-not because it's awful, but because it had the potential to be something amazing.

I don't know why the IMDb score for Opus is so low (only a 5.0 at the time of review). Although it doesn't reinvent the wheel (there are echos of Midsommar and Blink Twice) it is still a thoroughly entertaining and intriguing film that will have you hooked.

It follows Ayo Edebiri as journalist Ariel who is summoned, along with her boss and 4 others in the biz, to the isolated retreat of reclusive pop icon Moretti. Ostensibly the visit is to report on his first new album in 30 years, but you won't be surprised to hear that things quickly take a turn for the worst.

As mentioned, although the bare bones of the set up aren't unique, I think the angle of it is all very compelling and interesting. There are some great musings on celebrity, control and power. It is chock full of suspense, drama, gore, and even subtle comedy. To top it all off the film comes to a thought provoking conclusion that send you out of the cinema full of questions. It's definitely a film that poses a lot of questions and doesn't always have the answers, but that just made the whole thing more enjoyable for me.

A real strength of this film is the performances. Ayo Edebiri in the lead role is a revelation as our eyes in this story, bringing great emotional strength and also subtle comedy to proceedings. John Malkovich has great fun in the lead role of Moretti, bringing charm and mania in equal measure.

I also thought visually this film worked really well. The set designs and costuming were all brilliantly done and contributed to the tone and the vibe of the film perfectly.

Overall if you watched similar films like Midsommar, Blink Twice etc and wanted another taste of that sort of thing, Opus will sort you right out.

Sure the stories been told before, but for the most part all of the ingredients in this one had my Dina tickling my Simone. To me I'd compare this to M. Nights Unbreakable in recent years. The camera work is most captivating when it makes the world feel small, if the filmmaker succeeds, you might too by the end. Alternatively, to those who believe that art is the towering ideal we all should strive and aim for, like myself, I felt scene in all the best ways. Thematically I'd had like to see a deeper exploration but sometimes a little goes a long way in this tight hour and 20 minutes (or so) watch.

'Opus (2025)' might be playing with a combination of tropes that are very familiar right now, but I don't think it's quite as derivative as most people are saying it is. Okay, well maybe that's not entirely accurate, but I'm completely confident in saying its derivative nature isn't as big an issue as it's being made out to be. Sure, the piece is a combination of clear influences that doesn't really say all that much about the subjects it touches on, but so are most movies. What prevents it from feeling overly stale is its execution, with three of its elements raising it out of mediocrity. Those elements are its direction, which is consistently stylish (even to the point of being overworked on occasion) and crafts a specific aesthetic with ease, and its two key performers: Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich. The film isn't a comedy, nor is it especially (or overly) self-aware, but Edebiri brings a distinct and grounded presence to the picture and acts as the perfect audience surrogate. She blends curiosity with cautiousness, confusion with fear; she's a really engaging lead character and you totally buy she'd willingly stick around for as long as she does. Malkovich is eminently watchable as he chews the scenery as an ostentatious pop star with cult leader status, convincingly coming across as a quirky guy with a raging ego while also hinting at more potentially upsetting motivations beneath the surface. The interplay between him and the less-nonsense Edebiri works really well and keeps you engaged even during the film's less eventful segments. Although the experience does eventually devolve into perhaps the most basic and least interesting version of itself, its epilogue brings things together with a nice sting in the tail that retroactively makes the most generic segment less contrived. This effectively renders the most obvious in-the-moment issue less harmful than it initially seems to be, tying everything together in a satisfying way that makes it easier to overlook the picture's earlier problems. It's not like the ending is fantastic - nothing in the flick truly is - but it's better than it could have been and acts as a more-than-suitable stopping point. Ultimately, this is a well-achieved and entertaining effort that's undeniably clichéd, but no significantly worse for it. Not every movie can, or needs to, reinvent the wheel; if it's done well enough, even the most seen-before story can be compelling. While the affair isn't great, it's more than good enough for what it is. It's enjoyable, aesthetically pleasing, and well-acted.

My wife and I watched Opus (2025) in theaters last night. The storyline follows an aspiring journalist whose innovative ideas are constantly handed off to others by her company. When a world-renowned artist emerges after a 30-year hiatus, she and her boss are invited to an exclusive record release retreat-but things may not be as they seem.

This film is written and directed by Mark Anthony Green in his directorial debut and stars Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), John Malkovich (In the Line of Fire), Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear), and Tamera Tomakili (Fruitvale Station).

Opus has a distinct A24 feel (because it is), and in many ways, the storyline echoes Blink Twice with a fresh spin. The cinematography, production design, and costumes are top-tier. John Malkovich delivers an elite performance, showcasing his full range, while Ayo Edebiri brings an engaging energy to the film. However, Juliette Lewis felt somewhat miscast. The premise is intriguing and fun to watch unfold, though not entirely original. The film takes its time building tension, but once the horror elements kick in-starting with the bean bag scene-they escalate quickly, delivering some solid kills.

In conclusion, Opus has enough entertaining elements to hold your attention, but it falls short of being truly great within the genre. I'd score it a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

The direction seemed to prioritize stylistic choices over storytelling. The music was great and pulled me in immediately, but I can't shake the feeling that Opus uses trendy filmmaking as a crutch for lackluster storytelling. I want to get into a movie like this, but it's hard when a film feels like it takes itself a bit too seriously without backing it up with substance.

From a casual watch, I feel let down by unoriginality, flat characters, and an awkwardly paced plot. Good music and effective set-up don't make up for that.

It's an okay movie, but I'm disappointed and probably won't re-watch Opus if given the chance.