‘Magazine Dreams’ Review: Goes Multiple Directions But Doesn’t Land Anywhere

Magazine Dreams follows Killian Maddox (Jonathan Majors) as he cares for his grandfather (Harrison Page), but puts his all into pursuing his dream of becoming a celebrated bodybuilder on magazine covers. Killian’s determination quickly turns into an obsession, and he goes to extreme lengths to get the outcome he desires. This film goes in a lot of different directions in terms of what Killian’s obsession does to him, and what other circumstances made him that way, however, there is so much going on that none of them necessarily stick. Jonathan Majors’s acting is the film’s saving grace but even that gets muddled by the confusion of what message the film is trying to convey.

Magazine Dreams premiered at Sundance in 2023 but was delayed due to Majors getting arrested and found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of assault and harassment. And now, just before the film premiered, Majors was caught in more controversy as an alleged audio recording of him allegedly admitting to abusing his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari was released by Rolling Stone. It puts another stain on the story as Majors is the core of the film.

As I previously stated, Majors is the heart of this film, and it’s clear that he cares deeply about this character. Killian is complicated. Initially, Killian reminded me of another one of Majors’ characters, Damian Anderson, in Michael B. Jordan’s Creed III. When Killian works out, he does a sort of dog call as he does his reps, that took me back to Creed. However, Killian lacks the confidence and self-assurance Damian sustains. Though their similarity lies in the steps they’ll take to become the best in their sport. It also implies that Killian may be autistic-coded, due to behaviors he exhibits throughout the film such as getting frustrated quickly and reading social cues too late or not at all. Either way, Killian is an awkward, shy guy with a dark side that makes an appearance numerous times in the film.

A lot of tragic things happen to Killian, and Majors’s performance makes you feel for him, even when you probably shouldn’t. One thing Majors makes clear in his performance is how Killian’s obsession stemmed from his desire to be recognized by and genuinely liked by others. Majors allows you to see Killian’s rage as a switch that gets set off at the most random times. As a viewer, you teeter the line between supporting and condemning Killian. Majors’ makes you sympathize with him because of his circumstances, allowing you to forget that at times, his circumstances are a result of not keeping his rage in check.

I think this film tries to go in many different directions with Killian’s trauma and how that trauma feeds his obsession with bodybuilding. However, too many things happen to allow the viewer to resonate with one of them. For example, Killian writes letters to Brad Vanderhorn(Mike O’Hearn), his favorite bodybuilder and idol. Each letter to Brad shows Killian’s sinking deeper into the obsession with becoming a champion. It’s reminiscent of the song Stan, by Eminem. In each verse Stan gets more angry with Eminem for not answering, only feeding the obsession to be seen by him, to the point that he does something drastic. Additionally, unlike Stan, Killian does get the opportunity to meet his idol, but the interaction harms Killian rather than heals him. This was one of the most interesting aspects of the film to me, but when he meets Brad it changes the movie completely. I think it added unnecessary trauma to the character. I would have much rather preferred if it did go down the Stan route, where Killian never meets Brad, letting the obsession fester even more.

At some point, the film switched from being about Killian aiming to be a bodybuilder to just Killian fighting against his impulses to harm people. So much so, that it felt like bodybuilding became the secondary plot, as it is not discussed or presented much in the second half of the film until the final few scenes. Additionally, there were racial undertones in the film that did not lead anywhere. A woman in the grocery store shuffles her bag next to Killian when he stands next to her, and a man calls him an ape after beating on him. These racial implications never get addressed and is just another example of the film losing the plot to try to present itself as a film with a profound message, but it’s never clear of what that message was supposed to be.

Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Killian faces traumatic experience after traumatic experience, from physical, emotional, to spiritual, and it gets to a point that makes it difficult to watch. Walking away from this film, I do find myself with a profound feeling, though it’s hard to know what that feeling really is. I believe it’s from Jonathan Majors’ performance as Killian, as he makes it easy to sympathize with him, but because the story never stops piling trauma onto him from all sides, it makes it confusing on the stance the film is taking.