Running time: 95 mins
Release date: 18/10/2019 Steven Soderbergh, the formerly retired director, returns to the small screen of Netflix with his version of the leak of the Panama Papers. Through the witty satire, breaking of the fourth wall back and forth and segmented stories revolved around different ways the leak affected different shady characters, it’s an interesting take on a subject that is reminiscent of the style of The Big Short: using humour to drive home the point of strong wrongdoings.
Putting the likeable Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas as the two unlikeable ‘dicks’ that use loopholes and laws to fund their criminal activities, apart from the lousy accent on Oldmans’ side, they play off each other really well, great chemistry and turning up the camp charm they both possess. Fighting against an always quality Meryl Streep, after a horrible accident involving her husband, the way the pace changes throughout, its an unusual style which shows Soderbergh experimenting more and more with his latter choices.
As the film continues to build steam through the different segments, the tone shifts from harmless gags to something more sinister. The larger point it makes loses its spark towards the end and isn’t able to stick the landing it wants to make. And as a piece of cinema that is trying to reveal and uncover hidden plots and schemes by the rich and the powerful, it tries to rally the viewer behind the idea that it cannot happen again and the people responsible should be held accountable. But to a Netflix audience who perhaps don’t want political messages or a mob mentality, it falls flat where it counts.
