Out of all the famous directors that people love to hold in their memories, rewatch all the beloved movies that they made, and continue to praise even after said director has died, this level of admiration can be done to even those that don’t technically deserve it. With all the classic masters like Orsen Welles, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock, etc, the more interesting argument for this type of fanaticism are directors that are awful yet beloved by many, with the one in topic being Edward D Woods. Being an actor and director that was infamously known throughout the 20th century, Ed Wood is known for making some of the worst films ever made, with his magnum Opus, ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space’, being his crowning achievement of tremendous awfulness. Despite this bad wrap, eventually people would start to adore his horribly made films and he eventually got his own cult following years after his death. But with a figure so polarising to many and someone who would in no doubt make for an interesting crazy biopic, it was clearly a brilliant call to get wonderfully wacky director Tim Burton and shining newcomer Johnny Depp to make a film about a man who was much more passion than he was talent. In the time of early Hollywood, avid filmmaker and director fanatic, Ed Wood (played by Johnny Depp) wishes to live up to the cinema greats and make his own movies, but finds little success from any of his projects, failing at every play and movie he gets the chance to produce. But by a chance encounter with old Dracula actor Bela Lugosi (played by Martin Landau), he has his easy ticket into getting various films that he can direct for. With amazing passion but little talent, Wood along with a bunch of other colorful people he collects along the way, continues his trial and error career, facing struggles left and right, and all leading up to the film he’s the most proud of, Plan 9 From Outer Space. Basing a movie on a figure that is famous but not well known by many was already a great choice, but combine that idea with a fantastic actor, great stylised directing, a confronting use of black and white and cinematography, and an all-around fascinated ride into his mind, it’s a ton of fun to watch.

With the influence that Ed Wood has left on the filming industry, a biopic about him is a great idea; enabling a movie to focus on a person that can be viewed in a negative light but show the amazing pros that came with him. Though a terrible director, his influence even led to this film’s creation, with writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski conceiving the idea when they were students at a cinematic arts school, eventually leading them to Burton and the movie’s creation. The plot itself is pretty close to the real life events that occurred in Wood’s real life, including his friendship with Bela, the two women that were most important to him in his life, his various film inclusions and even his outward transvestitism. All of these attributes are genuinely intriguing and allow for the film to have plenty of memorable moments, but it never takes itself too seriously, with Burton at the helm directing the film to feel exactly like a classic B-movie down to style, pacing, acting and tone. The movie does not waste too much time on the instances although the events can seem to repeat themselves to the point that many may believe it to be fabricated. Even discarding his childhood, the focus on the cinema experience is the real material that’s worth getting into; as a famously bad director, watching the film show off all the technicals that came with his work is the most interesting stuff and it allows for many moments that not only satisfy the audience, but also give insight into this interesting individual.

Like a classic Tim Burton film, his quirky style is only elevated by the cast he chooses to put into his film, and this film has an amazing cast behind. Even considering all of his previous roles, this may be one of Johnny Depp’s greatest roles. The choice for him as the lead was spot on and the energy and passion he exudes is just perfect; with every line and action, he seems to be like a jack in the box waiting to pounce. It has such amazing charm and passion that he is so easily likeable even when he is doing stuff that everyone knows will not end with a positive reception. What this film did brilliantly is that it clearly showed even if he wasn’t a director that had a lot of talent and had many faults behind his work, no one can deny his enthusiasm and connectability behind his work, everything felt like it had such love put into it that it makes it more tragic than funny when the film turns out bad. Like other great Burton characters, he is an outcast for more than just his attitude and actions, but also for his odd choices in life and his almost spastic way of getting what he wants. The supporting cast is equally as engaging; capturing the likeness to the real life people to a tee and having such a fun time acting that slight amount of overacting that makes it that much more memorable and endearing, with particular love to Martin Landau as Lugosi.

Giving the movie a black and white filter not only adds to the time period and tone of movies at the time, giving the movie a great theme that allows for some amazing shots and lighting moments, but allows Burton to give the movie a distinct style. With so many allusions to space crafts and aliens and plenty of scenes that feel like the old fashioned world of Hollywood, it feels like a time period piece but warped into its own form of crazy; it blends into its own form of twisted atmosphere that’s both realistic and hokey at the same time. The writing is effectively quick and punchy, matching everybody’s eccentric over exaggerated personas perfectly with the fast delivery and passionate voice acting. With shots that feel right out of a classic horror film, with the lighting making scenes that much more atmospheric and interesting, and the perfectly visually interesting costume design that works despite the lack of color, Burton used his visual eye to ironically give a lot of sparkle to this black and white film.

Ed Wood is an admirable figure even despite his obvious shortcomings; his films had campy aesthetics, technical errors, unsophisticated special effects and ill-choice uses of stock footage; but under all that madness saw a person who was willing put everything on the line to follow his dreams and work on something amazing.  If it is any consolation, even if his movies were not that great, he managed to get a pretty amazing one made about him years later. With a great choice of director, amazing actors, wonderful visual cues and a great style, Ed Wood brings light to a person that is usually seen pretty dimly – definitely worth a watch.