By: Andrew Wing

Armageddon Time is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film written, directed, and produced by James Gray (The Lost City of Z, Ad Astra). The film stars Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada, Les Misérables), Jeremy Strong (Succession, The Trial of the Chicago 7), Banks Repeta, Jaylin Webb, and Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs, The Father). The film was shot in New Jersey with cinematographer Darius Khondji (Okja, Uncut Gems).

Inspired by Gray's childhood experiences, the story follows a young Jewish-American boy (Repeta) who befriends an African-American classmate (Webb) and begins to struggle with expectations from his family and growing up in a world of privilege, inequality, and prejudice.

Armageddon Time had its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2022, and was released in the United States via a limited theatrical release on October 28, 2022, by Focus Features, before expanding wide on November 4, 2022.

THE GOOD

For some reason, James Gray isn’t a household name, but his movies are all awesome. His 2019 science fiction film Ad Astra was one of my favorites of 2019, and that says a lot considering 2019 was arguably one of the best years in film we have ever had. That said, I was pumped once I first heard that his next movie, Armageddon Time, would be based on and inspired by Gray’s childhood experiences from growing up in New York in 1980. Not only that, but the fact that it was headlined by quite a trio of actors in Hathaway, Strong, and Hopkins, and I knew I was not going to miss this one during its limited run in theaters. But were the big names attached enough to make Armageddon Time a good movie at the end of the day? Keep reading to find out!

Yes! The answer is yes! For real though, James Gray has done it again! As I said in the introduction, he really isn’t that well known but he truly is one of most fascinating American directors working today, and with Armageddon Time, he takes us on an unforgettable autobiographical journey. I thought James Gray was really vulnerable here as the director for a lot of reasons. For starters, the movie’s main focus is on dissecting the white privilege that Gray grew up with, and I just commend him for acknowledging that and dissecting it so effectively throughout the film. Also, this movie just wasn’t as sensational as other films like this usually are, and I think that’s why I connected with it more. More than that, it never felt like Gray was forcing us as the audience to find one specific conclusion within all the threads in this boy’s life. Rather, it just felt grounded in reality and that is all it needed to be in my book so hats off to James Gray for yet another great job writing and directing!

Now let’s get into the amazing performances we got in Armageddon Time. I’ll start with Banks Repeta who plays the main character, Paul Graff, who we can assume is a reflection of James Gray as a child. This wasn’t the first I had seen of Repeta, but this was hands down the best I’ve seen of him. He was both kind of awkward and kind of charming, and I just thought he was perfect for this role. It didn’t feel like Gray was trying to cast someone perfect to play his younger self, but rather he wanted to cast somebody who felt believable as a misfit and Repeta was just great. As for newcomer Jaylin Webb, the other child performer in Armageddon Time, I thought he was excellent in his first feature film performance. His chemistry with Repeta was flawless, and the two of them provided some of the best moments the film had to offer.

But now onto that acting trio I previously mentioned that ultimately got my ass in the theater. I’ll start with Anne Hathaway who has been on a stinker streak lately, unfortunately. That said, her performance in this puts that streak to an end if you ask me. I loved Hathaway’s performance here and I thought she was very good. I did think she had the weakest of the primary familial relationships with Banks Repeta’s character Paul, but still, it’s Anne Hathaway and she’s incapable of giving a bad performance even if it’s in bad movies like The Hustle or The Last Thing He Wanted.

Continuing with that big three, let’s discuss the two-time Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins. I mean what can I say? The man is a legend and he has given us some of the best performances we have ever seen in the history of film. Well, he puts another feather in his cap with his performance in this as the wise old grandfather, Aaron Rabinowitz. He is the one adult figure in Paul’s life who is able to get through to him and because of that, he was responsible for some of the more emotional and sentimental moments in the film that I’ll admit did hit me pretty hard.

And lastly, with Kendall Roy himself, Jeremy Strong, I thought he had the best performance in the entire film which also surprised me the most too. He comes across initially as this stern and emotionally distant father, but because of Strong’s acting talents, you can see how charming he is in some scenes with his kids. Also, he has some of the strongest scenes in the film as later in the movie we start to see his emotions come through the cracks, and similar to Hopkins, he caused my eyes to water a time or two. Strong really just continues to move higher and higher up my favorite actors list, and I cannot wait for season three of the best show on television right now, Succession.

THE BAD

News flash, I loved this movie. It made me as emotional as I have ever been in a movie which I wasn’t expecting, and this is undoubtedly one of my personal favorites of the year. That said, I really don’t understand why this film hasn’t gotten more buzz during this year’s awards circuit. Maybe it’s because we have gotten so many of these movies where the directors are basically just doing autobiographies of their own lives like Kenneth Branagh did last year with Belfast (see my full review here), and like Steven Spielberg is doing this year with The Fabelmans (see our preview here). But at the end of the day, this movie isn’t trying to be the charming Oscar bait we have grown accustomed to. It’s rather more of a matter-of-fact approach about this child at this point in his life and I was just totally absorbed by it, so I wish it got more awards attention because I think it deserves it.

THE VERDICT

Behind great performances from the entire cast, Armageddon Time is a really interesting memoir film from American filmmaker James Gray. I loved that he chose to tell this personal story that ultimately serves as a direct and damning takedown of the white privilege that was percolating in 1980 New York and still is today. The film is complex yet grounded in a familiar reality, and it really hit home for me on an emotional level.

I don’t know, maybe it’s because it is a movie that is free of nostalgia, but this movie is just getting no awards buzz for some reason. Yes, it’s a film that tackles a lot from the political angles, the family dynamics, to the friendships, but I just think it all comes together so nicely and I couldn’t recommend it more.