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Opus brings us into the world of Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich, as John Malkovich, but still brilliant), a pop star who’s back on the scene after 27 years of being away, and who has such a following that mouths drop to the floor as soon as news breaks of his return.
Invites are being sent out at random, one such recipient being young journalist Ariel Ecton (Ayo Edebiri – making up some ground for the godawful Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem), along with her boss, Stan Sullivan (Murray Bartlett – The Last Of Us). Others in the rag-tag bunch include talkshow host Clara Armstrong (Juliette Lewis, still looking uber hot!), influencer Emily Katz (Stephanie Suganami) and radio shock jock Bill Lotto (Mark Sivertsen), the latter of whom has had a long-standing beef with Moretti. Maybe now, they can resolve things?
It’s not just the invites which give a feeling of feeling of entering Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, in terms of secrecy, since once congregated, everyone has to take a 4hr bus trip, since he lives on a sort-of commune miles away from anywhere.
There’s so many weird things going on in this, but to give just a flavour, the first course of their opening meal is a huge lump of bread from which everyone has to take a bite; and they each get a 24/7 concierge, who must go everywhere with them. For example, Ariel gets Belle (Amber Midthunder – Hell Or High Water), who sits outside her room… even overnight!
The whole place looks and feels like a mad, religious cult, and as Ariel tries to figure things out, it felt like her expected puff piece would be turning into an investigation.
Since it’s weird as hell, Opus also reminded me of a particular film from 2022, but while the plot is different, it’s still mad as cheese, so I’ll put it behind a spoiler header just in case…
But, like the film can be arty-farty, so is the director Mark Anthony Green who, quite frankly, is a moron.
Watching it at Odeon, as Opus was showing on a 2.39:1 screen – and the film started off that way but hadn’t been zoomed in (and the “It’s Time” was the 1.85:1 version), I figured we had the same cockup as they had with William Tell, a few weeks back.
It was also the same screen (no.3), so I asked the guy at the front in case there were any issues, and he said he’d look into it. Of course, you never hear back while the film is still running, but nothing changed, while I later learned he did check, I came across the reason during the film, and briefly fed this back afterwards, in case anyone else asked about it.
In the end, about 90% of the film is 2.39:1, but the last 10 mins are in 1.85:1 for absolutely no reason whatsoever. The only plus is that since I was completely engrossed in what was going on, I actually hadn’t noticed the change, and I realised it was now a taller and deeper image than I was originally watching, and which continued into the end credits.
So, it’s not Odeon’s fault, but 100% of the blame on that goes to the director.
As a result, I’m spending the majority of the film with a horribly-windowboxed image that looks ridiculous. I know A24 are also responsible for arty-farty stuff in films, so I’ll lay the blame at their door as well.
Rest assured, as soon as this review was published, I was on the internet, within minutes, registering my disgust.
NOTE: There are no mid- or post-credit scenes.
Opus is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 104 minutes
Release date: March 14th 2025
Studio: A24
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (for 90% of the running time, then 1.85:1)
Rating: 8.5/10
Director: Mark Anthony Green
Producers: Josh Bachove, Collin Creighton, Mark Anthony Green, Poppy Hanks, Jelani Johnson, Brad Weston
Screenplay: Mark Anthony Green
Music: Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans, Nile Rodgers, The-Dream
Cast:
Ariel Ecton: Ayo Edebiri
Alfred Moretti: John Malkovich
Clara Armstrong: Juliette Lewis
Stan Sullivan: Murray Bartlett
Bianca Tyson: Melissa Chambers
Soledad Yusef: Tony Hale
Emily Katz: Stephanie Suganami
Bill Lotto: Mark Sivertsen
Belle: Amber Midthunder
Najee: Tatanka Means
Maude: Aspen Martinez
Jorg: Peter Diseth
Rachel Malick: Tamera Tomakili
Billie Holiday: Rosario Dawson
Lee: Jasper Keen
Kent: Young Mazino
Levelist #1: Rose Marley Meizlesh
Levelist #2: Samantha V Christie
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.