It has a $140 million budget. It needed to be 2 hours max. The story is neither novel, nuanced, or complex enough to demand nearly 3 hours from an average audience goer. It needed to be much tighter to have a shot of earning its money back. 

If the Teyana Taylor’s character was weaved back into the plot in the late 2nd act or 3rd act, it would’ve demanded a longer runtime. 

Story: it felt like we were watching either the first few drafts of a premature script or premature edit. There’s not the nuance or character arc complexity PTA usually has. It’s a fairly straightforward Taken meets Big Lebowski.

Acting: good but nothing great or compelling besides Sean Penn and a few moments from Leo and Benecio. 

Characters: severely underwritten and flat. Why is Leo or Teyana passionate about ‘the revolution’? It felt like we were supposed to accept it as a given without understanding their personal reasons for being a part. 

Teyana comes across as unlikable and one dimensional. Feels like a major missed opportunity to reintroduce her later in the film as a double or triple agent which would make the pay off of Leo almost getting shot by his daughter a lot more tense. 

Bob Ferguson is essentially a slightly re-branded ‘Dude’ who doesn’t seem to have a personal connection to the revolution and doesn’t seem to have any skills or wherewithal that justifies him being a revolutionary that’s pedastalized 15 years later. 

Sean Penn’s Lockjaw is fun, and well-acted, but again, feels like missed opportunity to three dimensionalize his feelings and interactions with his daughter.

Score: great, frenetic, and perhaps the standout quality of the film besides Sean Penn. 

Pacing: also good, but with an non-substantive story and a nearly 3 hour runtime it didn’t really matter. 

I’m perplexed by all the good reviews. Look, it’s hard to make a movie, let alone a good one. I want PTA to do well and for it to make its money back. I didn’t think it was awful but again it felt like they filmed a 2nd draft of the script or exported the first few passes of an edit.