MOVIE NEWS – Westerns hold a nostalgic charm for fans raised during the genre’s golden age, or introduced through TV reruns and home video. While no longer a dominant genre, Ari Aster’s Eddington boldly revives the tense showdowns and stark divisions that defined the Western tradition.

Starring Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal, Eddington portrays the rising conflict between a small-town sheriff (Phoenix) and the town’s mayor (Pascal), setting off a chain reaction of division in a fictional New Mexico town in May 2020. Directed by Ari Aster, the film is scheduled to hit theaters on July 18, 2025, but had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16.

Festival attendees were split: some called it bold and timely, others labeled it convoluted and heavy-handed. While audiences will judge for themselves this summer, Rotten Tomatoes offers a preview: based on 19 reviews, the score sits at 63%. With an ensemble cast featuring Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Michael Ward, Austin Butler, and Emma Stone, expectations were certainly high.

David Fear (Rolling Stone): “Aster has given us another movie that chills you, unnerves you and makes you want to crawl out of your skin. You just wish this one didn’t feel so close to being nonfiction.”

Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian) gave it 2 stars: “Ari Aster now worryingly creates a losing streak with this bafflingly dull movie, a laborious and weirdly self-important satire which makes a heavy, flavorless meal of some uninteresting and unoriginal thoughts.”

Josh Korngut (Dread Central): “With his brilliant fourth film, Ari Aster allows the mask of America’s decency to slip off completely, and what’s revealed beneath is the rotting flesh on the face of the chaotic beast we’ve been becoming for so long.”

Sophie Monks Kaufman (The Independent): “This is Aster’s funniest film to date, and makes use of an ever-expanding and shifting cast to dot the 150-minute runtime with well-observed comic details and visual payoffs.”

Those looking to escape politics in their films won’t find refuge here. Westerns have always been political, implicitly or otherwise—and Eddington continues that legacy. With its sharp humor, haunting tone, and societal commentary, Aster tells the story of a fractured town that may reflect something larger about our world today.

Source: Movieweb