Compromised: Bunker Review

Directed by: Florian Zeller

Cast: Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Stephen Graham, Paul Dano

Every year at TIFF, one movie is so astonishingly bad that I tap out of watching movies for a couple of weeks. Last year, it was Karmadonna. This year’s stinker is Bunker, directed by Florian Zeller. Allegedly a psychological thriller, the film follows Miguel, a successful architect, and his wife Sofia, played by real-life couple Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz. A tech billionaire, played by Paul Dano, approaches Miguel to build a bunker because you’ve seen how the world is moving lately. Billionaires are pissing themselves right now because there are so many of us to hold them accountable for all their crimes against humanity. Yes, Peter Thiel is building bunkers because the moment TikTok and League of Legends’ servers go down, people will rise up. Just need a couple more once-in-a-lifetime catastrophes to motivate us. One of these days.

Bunker is a thinly written soap opera. Sofia disapproves of taking the billionaire’s money because she already has a great life, sipping wine at art galleries and working in publishing. They argue a little, then Miguel makes the boringly realistic, uncinematic choice. The moral conundrum has no weight because Miguel is already wealthy. The bloated script knows this, too, because Stephen Graham plays their less wealthy neighbour who just wants to build a window in his shed. The window just happens to overlook Miguel’s backyard, and straight into their kitchen. Sofia tries to parallel Miguel with the billionaire’s paranoia, but it doesn’t work. Graham’s undeveloped character is a creepy jerk until he isn’t. Steven Graham is a great actor, though. Why did Paul Dano only appear on a five-minute Zoom call?

I knew I hated this movie when there was actually a thrilling action scene at the end that climaxes with a… cut to black. Did they run out of money? Did the stunt coordinator call in sick? Paul Dano is here for less than five minutes on a Zoom call. He probably did that from home.

We watch movies to see characters make the bad decisions for reasons we can empathize with. We want to see them grow and change. Miguel’s big mistake here is only considering making a mistake. No change occurs. Bunker took two hours of my life, then added nothing to the conversation. The film’s political message is said in a plain, artless monologue at the end. Build bridges, not walls. The blunt writing reminded me of Death Stranding, which isn’t a compliment.

I attended a public screening for this film cause the press one was at 8 am. Ridiculous. Press screenings have fewer ads, while public screenings have the cast in attendance. Before it started, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey said it’s a movie about selling out your values. Unless you’re extremely lucky, everybody sells out their values to survive. I will promote this review on a platform under fire for surgically lowering girls’ self-esteem to get them to buy things. If you want to exist, you abide by companies you don’t approve of. You sign the terms and conditions, hoping you won’t have to live under them much longer. We don’t need a movie where characters privileged enough to live by their values act like they’re on the same level as the rest of us. Miguel should’ve built that bunker and been buried underneath it. The most frustrating part is that a compelling movie is here somewhere, just creatively compromised.