Film Review: 'The Phoenician Scheme' Is Classic Wes Anderson
A Wes Anderson film is one where each detail is meticulously brushstroked onto a frame of celluloid; they are astonishingly beautiful to look at, with stories that match their depth and juxtapose the neatness. Anderson’s compositions are tidiness in a world filled with chaos, and The Phoenician Scheme is the latest entry in his oeuvre. It is a spy comedy that deals with a man reckoning with the finality of life, his nine lives seemingly coming to an end unless he can change his ways. Yet even with the final curtain call looming over his shoulders, he’s still going to try and get exactly what he wants, regardless of the collateral damage in his path.
Benicio del Toro plays the witty and screen-grabbing Zsa Zsa Korda, an unethical business magnate whom we meet after surviving his sixth (!) assassination attempt, this one involving the destruction of his personal plane. While Anderson’s films feature death, there is an almost comical nature to their on-screen execution, playing into the slapstick nature of the Marx Brothers rather than a purely dramatic action sequence. He treads the line between serious and funny in an impressive way.
As he lies in a cornfield surrounded by the destruction of the plane crash, Korda finds himself in heaven, a divine court judging his worthiness. He decides that, eventually, one of these assassination attempts might actually work, so he needs an heir to his throne. He turns to his only daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), with whom he has a fractured relationship. She is destined to become a nun and wants nothing to do with her father. Korda has a plan to stake his fortune on a “Phoenician scheme”, involving an infrastructure project in Phoenicia that involves slave labor and swindling his various investors. A government agent known as Excalibur - whom we meet in various intervals throughout the film - have a plan up their sleeve: by raising the cost of building materials, Korda goes bankrupt, thus bankrupting him and bringing an end to his business practices.
Korda, Liesl, and Korda’s Norwegian assistant/tutor/entomologist Bjørn (a brilliant Michael Cera) travel around the world as Korda attempts to get the investors to fork over the cash, however deceitful about the project he may be. Korda wants to change, yet he stretches the truth at every possible moment, leading to ridiculous situations involving two Californian brothers (Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston), a French nightclub owner (Mathieu Amalric), and a prominent businessman (Jeffrey Wright).
As per usual, this is an all-star cast bringing their A-game to a Wes Anderson flick; no matter the amount of screen time a person has, whether it be Benedict Cumberbatch as the dastardly Uncle Nubar, Scarlett Johansson as second cousin Hilda, Richard Ayoade as communist guerrilla Sergio, or Bill Murray as God, everyone leaves their mark in the best way. Even with so many plot strings and details to keep track of, it’s impossible not to get a kick out of the world that Anderson creates here.
The quirkiness of The Phoenician Scheme is a trademark aspect of Anderson’s films. While the subject matter differs between movies, the characters float about the set pieces with what I can only describe as lighthearted seriousness - there is serious dialogue, yet it’s handled with levity and never takes itself too seriously. Phoenician Scheme is another great entry in Anderson’s filmography - even when it can be hard to keep track of plot details or situations, it’s a fun world to inhabit for an hour and forty minutes.
The Phoenician Scheme is now streaming on Peacock, and is available to buy or rent wherever you get your movies.
Release Date: May 30th, 2025
Rated: PG-13 (for violent content, bloody images, some sexual material, nude images, and smoking throughout)
Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Directed by: Wes Anderson
Screenplay by: Wes Anderson
Story by: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Produced by: Wes Anderson, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson, John Peet
Starring: Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis
