Review: Mid-Sommar: “Opus” falls short

By Basma Bedawi     3/25/25 10:29pm

Rating: ★★½

Even Ayo Edebiri’s bouncy bob can’t save this movie. 

At 4 p.m. on a Thursday in Virginia Beach, Virginia, my brother and I are the only two people sitting to watch “Opus,” A24’s newest psychological thriller starring the people’s princess Ayo Edebiri as Ariel, an up-and-coming journalist struggling to make a name for herself. 

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The film is about the return of Alfred Moretti, a 90’s pop music icon. In anticipation of his first album in 30 years, he invites six people — including Ariel and her boss, who won’t let her write anything — to a remote getaway to listen to his album. When they arrive, they are met with a matching blue-clad cult surrounding Moretti. As suspicious and unsettling events unfold, Ariel is convinced something sinister is at play. 

The film opens with a montage of people with literal stars in their eyes dancing in a dark abyss. It’s a compelling open, setting the scene for a film that tackles celebrity and God-ship and the way these are often one and the same. By the 15-minute mark, the group of six makes it to the island. 

By the 30-minute mark, my brother has started watching a March Madness game on his phone. 

“Opus” falls short of its potential. It feels like a movie where the director knew he wanted to say something but forgot to figure out what that exactly was before the film wrapped. 

At its core, “Opus” is trying to be more meaningful than it is. When Moretti explains his motivations behind his cult, it doesn’t come across as much more than a collection of words. Even the film’s base-level message about the cult of celebrity — something they relentlessly drill home by giving the celebrity a literal cult a la Jared Leto — doesn’t seem to actually be saying anything new. 

The whole film, I kept thinking, “This movie feels like …” because, at the end of the day, “Opus” is hopelessly derivative. The film is like if you took “Knives Out: Glass Onion,” mixed it with “Midsommar” and sprinkled in elements of “The Menu” but removed most of what makes each of those movies such compelling stories.

Throughout its runtime, the film is out of sync with itself. We watch Moretti kill five people without really understanding why until near the end. Ariel is ahead of the watcher’s emotions; while she’s panicking over the members of her group that have gone missing one by one, I can’t help but think that, really, nothing she has seen would constitute such intense fear. 

This is one of the main faults of “Opus” — the film attempts to build suspense by demanding it rather than creating it. We know we should be on edge because the film has told us it is a thriller, but it doesn’t actually show it. 

Nearly all the gut-wrenching moments happen at once, far too late into the film. It feels like the movie got bored with itself and decided to run toward the finish line, not looking back to check if we were still behind it.

This is not to say that the film is all bad. “Opus” is stylized so intricately. It mixes a ’90s aesthetic with modern elements, playing into the resurgence of a ’90s icon in current times. Every shot feels carefully curated with so much intentionality (this movie is an aerial shot masterclass). 

The film has one of my favorite types of horror and action scenes: inappropriately calm music played over fight scenes. John Malkovich’s and, to a lesser degree, Ayo Edebiri’s performances carry the film. 

Even so, this movie would probably be a better watch for someone who doesn’t like horror very much or loves celebrity commentary. Overall, it falls short of its potential and doesn’t do as much as it could. Watch the trailer. Skip the movie.   

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