THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

With a cast as stacked and enjoyable as Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler, it wouldn’t have mattered what the plot of Eddington was; I would be seated. I had only seen one Ari Aster film—Midsommar—prior to tonight, so I truly didn’t know what to expect out of Eddington, and what I got was quite the mixed bag.

In theory, I would’ve really enjoyed jumping back to 2020 to explore the pandemic from a distance, and at least for the first hour of the film, I did. Watching the political turmoil arise from notable 2020 events, especially in a small town where beliefs tend to be extreme and actions send ripples that literally everyone will feel, was very interesting, and I enjoyed the back and forth between Phoenix’s Joe and Pascal’s Ted.

Ari Aster did a great job bringing the era to life, and an even better job painting both sides of every conflict as foolish, in one way or another. Whether it be a shopper saying they can’t breathe in a mask in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, teenagers promising to gather safely while sharing drinks, making out, and not staying six feet apart, or privileged white people trying to figure out where they’re supposed to be in the middle of it all, Aster nailed the collective confusion and outrage of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were little details of the time that Morgan and I couldn’t help but cringe at, which is a compliment to Aster.

Despite the strong opening, though, I became less engaged when Aster’s carefully crafted tale stumbled into familiar territory and leaned unnecessarily into the horror and gore. Deaths were needlessly bloody and far too high in number; important, engaging players went down before completing their arcs; and any political commentary that Aster was going for was moved to the back burner. After laying such a firm foundation, it was a bit disappointing to see the film fail to stick the landing. I also wished that Emma Stone and Austin Butler had been more involved, especially in the second half of the film, which really zeroed in on Joe and his deputies.

Eddington had the opportunity to be a poignant reflection on the all-too-recent pandemic and Black Lives Matter era, but it squandered much of its potential in the second half. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in the second half; it just wasn’t what I wanted out of this film after the first half was surprisingly great and unexpectedly funny, poking at people’s weird, paranoid behavior during the pandemic. Maybe someone else will come along in 5 or 10 years and really crush a film about this time. We shall see.