There’s rage simmering inside Killian Maddox, the beginner bodybuilder portrayed by Jonathan Majors on the coronary heart of the darkish and stylized movie “Magazine Dreams.”
It’s a type of “Taxi Driver” for the incel age, a harrowing portrait of untreated psychological sickness, violence, false idols, steroids and male loneliness. There was, from the start, tons to debate and debate within the material of “Journal Goals.” However within the two years because it debuted on the Sundance Film Festival, it was additionally eclipsed by the very real-life travails of its star, who was convicted of assaulting his former girlfriend.
In January 2023, “Journal Goals” had an thrilling future with Oscar hopes for Majors. Searchlight Footage gained the distribution rights, reportedly over the likes of Neon and Sony Footage Classics. And Majors was skyrocketing to the top, with massive roles in “Creed III” and as Marvel’s new principal villain, Kang. However two months later, he was arrested. By that December, Majors was found guilty of 1 misdemeanor assault cost and one harassment violation and fired by Marvel. A month later, “Journal Goals” was with out distribution. Majors has, all through all of it, maintained his innocence.
The movie was ultimately picked up by Briarcliff Entertainment, the identical distributor who jumped in to launch the younger Donald Trump film “The Apprentice” after the remainder of the leisure enterprise shied away from it. “The Apprentice” went on to get Oscar nominations for its two stars.
However there’s a unique type of stigma round “Journal Goals,” which is why this evaluate has additionally been a bit eclipsed by what’s occurred in Majors’ life. It’s a movie a couple of man teetering on the sting of violence, in regards to the relentless pursuit of greatness — and it’s deeply uncomfortable watching his descent.
His simplistic devotion to 1 wild aim could also be his undoing in a world that simply doesn’t care about him. This isn’t the film that any public relations skilled would select as a “comeback function.” But it’s unimaginable to disclaim the monumental ferocity of Majors’ efficiency, from his full transformation to his unsettling means to indicate the ache behind (most of) the psychotic actions.
Killian’s life is nothing glamorous: He works in a grocery retailer and at house cares for his ageing grandfather. However he has an intense, maniacal must be seen and to be remembered. And the one manner he’s discovered methods to obtain that’s via bodily perfection — or not less than his very slender concept. Success is {a magazine} cowl, which he naively conflates with immortality.
When co-worker Jessie (Haley Bennett, who does quite a bit with a small, considerably thankless function) agrees to exit on a date with him, he’s genuinely shocked that she isn’t conversant in his bodybuilding idol, saying one thing to the impact of “it is advisable to get out extra.”
Author-director Elijah Bynum successfully imbues his movie with stylized depth. You are feeling uneasy and captivated from the beginning, although you attempt to give Killian the advantage of the doubt — to search for his goodness, to root for his success, if just for the hope that it would maintain him docile for a little bit longer. Although we’re informed early that he’s had violent episodes, via his court-ordered therapist, the glass isn’t totally shattered till Jessie begins to course of that Killian is somebody she must get away from, quick. That is notably after he orders maybe $500 price of protein on the date, only for himself. Sadly, we don’t get to see the invoice.
Whereas “Journal Goals” is an fascinating character examine, one many actors would like to play for all its dramatic alternatives, it additionally appears crafted fully to impress and shock — particularly within the nearly unbearably bleak remaining hour. After two viewings, certainly one of which I needed to take a break from throughout certainly one of his violent outbursts, I’m not truly certain what it’s attempting to say about males, about trauma, about ‘roid rage. Killian appears much less like an genuine particular person and extra a simplistic stand-in for the forgotten particular person, the quiet weirdo who finally ends up a mass killer.
And but as motion pictures are being accused of being too simple, too moralistic, too easy, maybe some ambiguity, some discomfort, some unresolved unpleasantness is overdue. Majors is a drive, and Bynum is definitely a director to observe. The query with “Journal Goals,” which was the identical in January 2023 as it’s in March 2025 is: Will anybody?
“Journal Goals,” a Briarcliff Leisure launch in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Movement Image Affiliation for “violent content material, drug use, sexual materials, nudity and language.” Operating time: 104 minutes. Two and a half stars out of 4.
