OVERVIEW
Alex Serian (Pedro Pascal) was once a celebrated child prodigy, but decades later, his life is considerably less impressive. A talented cellist from a family of musicians, he has spent most of his adult life moving between orchestras, cities, and relationships, never quite finding what he is looking for. Following a disastrous breakup in Chicago, Alex returns to Los Angeles, where he begins recording music for Hollywood productions while reconnecting with his troubled family and confronting unresolved episodes from his past. As he performs these pieces, each one takes him back to a moment from his past life that got him to where he is.
BACKGROUND
Behemoth! marks Tony Gilroy’s return to feature filmmaking fourteen years after The Bourne Legacy, following his considerable success as the creator of Andor. Having originally dreamed of becoming a musician himself, Gilroy developed the film as a tribute to the composers and performers responsible for bringing film scores to life. To achieve this, he assembled nine composers, collectively credited as the Behemoth! Collective, including James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri, Michael Giacchino, Henry Jackman, and Michael Abels. Rather than commissioning a conventional score, Gilroy asked them to compose music for several fictional productions, allowing their work to become part of the narrative itself. The film premiered at the 2026 New York Film Festival before its scheduled December theatrical release.
THE REVIEW
For anyone who loves film scores, especially those who have spent countless mornings walking to work with Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings blasting through their headphones (like yours truly), Behemoth! sounds almost irresistible. Add to that a novel, almost Felliniesque idea of using music to revisit a life, its memories and regrets, and the possibilities seem endless. Unfortunately, despite sounding like the greatest movie ever on paper, Behemoth! turns out to be an incredibly gimmicky and surprisingly unfulfilling experience, one so pleased with the musical conceit that it forgets to develop a compelling story around it.
Gilroy clearly had a lot of fun writing and directing this, and it is easy to understand what he is going for. By using the scores of fictional films to accompany Alex’s personal memories, he plays with one of cinema’s most powerful storytelling tools, showing how music can turn an ordinary event into something dramatic, romantic, or even thrilling. Some of these passages are genuinely enjoyable, and the concept allows Gilroy to experiment with tone and structure in interesting ways. At one point, Alex is chased by an angry ex-girlfriend, accompanied by a thrilling Bourne-like action cue. In another, a beautiful love theme makes it clear that what Alex feels for Nadia goes beyond a simple crush. Unfortunately, the novelty wears off once it becomes clear that there is little else to sustain it.
Much of the problem comes from Alex himself, a remarkably nondescript protagonist for a film so determined to explore his emotional life. Pedro Pascal delivers a good performance and seems perfectly capable of portraying the wounded, uncertain man Gilroy has imagined, but cannot quite overcome the screenplay’s shortcomings. Alex spends much of the film drifting between memories and relationships, while the people surrounding him remain frustratingly underdeveloped. His relationship with Nadia (Eva Victor) is particularly disappointing. Victor has a lovely presence, but Gilroy never gives them enough time together to make their connection believable. Olivia Wilde, meanwhile, is a hoot as Carol, Alex’s volatile former girlfriend, and practically steals the entire film with what amounts to only a few minutes of screen time. There is more personality and energy in her brief appearance than in much of Alex’s considerably longer journey.
Will Arnett also does a fine job as Alex’s brother, though he is similarly let down by how little Alex gives him to play against. Their complicated family history is clearly meant to have deeply affected Alex, but Alex remains so passive throughout that it becomes hard to ignore how much responsibility he bears for his own circumstances. This becomes one of the film’s biggest problems. Was his family responsible for the way his life turned out, or has he simply spent decades refusing to take responsibility for himself? And, for that matter, are his final decisions supposed to be tragic, or do they merely demonstrate his continued inability to move forward?
As for the score, it is fantastic on its own, with plenty of individual moments in which the music gets to shine. Yet the very concept behind it also works against the film. With nine composers contributing to different passages, motifs and themes rarely return, wasting a tremendous opportunity to have a musical idea grow and evolve alongside the character. The film is so interested in demonstrating how different compositions can transform individual memories that it overlooks how a recurring melody could connect them, gaining new meaning as Alex revisits his past. Once again, it is a curious experiment that never quite achieves its potential.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Behemoth! has a fantastic premise and some memorable individual moments, but it falls considerably short of its immense potential. In attempting to take us through the life of a central character without first giving us a reason to care about him, Gilroy turns what could have been both a celebration of film music and a profound exploration of family trauma and regret into little more than a shallow gimmick.
Still courtesy of Searchlight Pictures
- Where to watch
- Coming soonDec 4, 2026
- Where to watch
- Coming soonDec 3, 2026
Play trailer
- Original title
- Behemoth!
- Director
- Tony Gilroy
- Cast
- Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, Will Arnett, Hank Azaria, Alexa Swinton, Kaya Ralls, Erik Griffin
- Screenwriter
- Tony Gilroy
- Composer
- James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri, Brandon Roberts, Michael Abels, Emily Bear, Lukas Frank, Michael Giacchino, Henry Jackman, Nami Melumad
- Cinematography
- Damián García
- Editor
- John Gilroy
- Country
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $36 million
- Distributor (CA)
- Searchlight Pictures