Film Review – The Apprentice (2024)

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Title – The Apprentice (2024) 

Director – Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider) 

Cast – Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Martin Donovan, Maria Bakalova

Plot – Explores the early rise of now president Donald Trump (Stan) under the tutelage of infamous New York lawyer Roy M. Cohn (Strong) as the two set about taking over the city no matter the cost.   

“You create your own reality. Truth is a malleable thing”

Review by Eddie on 28/01/2025

Finally getting to watch Ali Abbasi’s film after it was awarded two deserving Oscar nominations for its on-song leads Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong, which just so happened to have occurred in the aftermath of celebrations (or commiserations?) of President elect Donald Trump’s inauguration into his second term of office as American president, feeling like a nice turn of events. 

A warts and all exploration of Trump’s formative years under the tutelage/friendship of infamous New York lawyer Roy M. Cohn, The Apprentice (not based on Trump’s famed reality TV show he hosted) is an interesting film that takes a docu-drama like approach to proceedings as it follows Trump’s early rise in the real estate game in New York City, a time that helped him achieve notoriety and wealth while also turning him into the hard-nosed figure he has become, morphing into one of the most polarising figures in modern history.

Built off the back of Stan’s turn as Trump and Strong’s turn as Cohn, it takes a little while to warm up to Abbasi’s approach to this material but as the two leads move further and further into their iterations of two famous American businessman, it’s hard not to be impressed with key elements of Abbasi’s film while also wishing that there was a more gripping nature to his film that at times loses focus and our interest across its two hour runtime. 

Capturing the time and place of proceedings extremely well, with 70’s and 80’s New York coming alive before our eyes, The Apprentice certainly looks the part and at times genuinely does feel like we are watching a documentary feature but there’s a looseness to the narrative here and a lack of a clear direction at times that does hold back the great work of its two leads back, making The Apprentice far from a must-watch outside of its performance angle. 

Having a career breakout 2024 with his performance here in the the critically lauded A Different Man, Stan is as good as his ever been here portraying the world’s most currently talked about person and by the time his final on-screen moments come into play you’ll have forgotten you’re watching an actor as Trump is alive before our very eyes. 

Making a great double bill with Succession kingpin Strong, who finally gets a great chance to test himself on the big screen stage, The Apprentice makes a strong case for itself to be regarded as one of the masterclasses of 2024 double acting bills, even if the film around this facet is far from superior outside of offering some intriguing insights into what shaped the current leader of the free world. 

Final Say – 

Formed around two outstanding lead performances and doing a fantastic job of capturing a time and place in New York history, The Apprentice has some memorable components and some more mid-tier elements that hold it back from greatness, all the while offering up a viewing experience you won’t regret thanks to its actors above average work that has been duly recognised by Hollywood’s biggest awards outlet. 

3 cakes out of 5  

8 responses to “Film Review – The Apprentice (2024)”

  1. How the pupil became scarier than the master. I was really impressed by that movie when I saw it. And worried too. Is Hollywood still fearless enough to give an award to those two great actors ?

    • I was actually fairly surprised both leads got a nomination tbh. My early expectations were that Stan might be nominated for A Better Man instead but it was great both got recognition here.
      E

    • It was a very strong performance, I was quietly hoping he would get in for his turn in A Different Man but it was great he got recognised one way or the other.
      E

  3. Agree the film’s sense of place is fantastic. Also agree there’s a loss of focus – I think this is why a lot of films nowadays begin at a major event for the lead character, then rewind to an earlier time to carry you back to the big climax that was already foreshadowed.

    Liberties are always taken with films based on real people/events, but I had a lot of moments where I was asking myself, “Is (person) really that awkward?” “Is (person) really that nice?” “Is (person’s) mannerism really that exaggerated?”

  4. Pingback: Film Review – A Different Man (2024) | Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)·

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