Pedro Pascal Hits Wrong Notes in Tony Gilroy's 'Behemoth!'

Tony Gilroy's "Behemoth!", a classical music drama starring Pedro Pascal, has opened at the New York film festival to a dismissive review from the Guardian, which finds the film "hits all the wrong notes."

The film is Gilroy's first feature as a director since 2012's "The Bourne Legacy." Gilroy built his career directing the Bourne films and serving as showrunner on the Star Wars spin-off "Andor," and he guided Tilda Swinton to an Oscar for her performance in the legal thriller "Michael Clayton."

By that record, "Behemoth!" promised an intriguing return. The Guardian's reviewer describes Gilroy as "a master of threading the needle between slick action and deeply felt drama." The new film comes with a score credited to nine A-list composers working collectively as The Behemoth! Collective, a stacked cast, and a womanizing central character who, in the reviewer's words, "looks phenomenal in a tux" — a film the reviewer's friend summed up as "'Tár' for straight men."

The promise does not survive contact with the screen. The Guardian faults Pascal for "stumbling" through the role and calls Gilroy's film "forgettable," singling out "stylistic gimmicks" as a particular weakness. The review delivers a verdict sharply at odds with the project's pedigree: a director returning after fourteen years away from the chair, an ensemble cast, and the unusual spectacle of nine top-tier composers pooling their music for a single score.

For Gilroy, whose recent reputation rests largely on the critical success of "Andor," the film represents a rare stumble on the feature side. For Pascal, one of the most in-demand actors in Hollywood, it is a reminder that star power cannot rescue material the director has not secured. The full review runs in the Guardian; its verdict positions "Behemoth!" as one of the more high-profile disappointments of this year's New York film festival slate.