Rob Reviews: The Apprentice (2024)

Man, I forgot what a shithole New York was in the ‘70s.

There’s a certain intentional “fuzziness” to the picture here. Director Ali Abbasi and cinematographer Kasper Tuxen made the bold choice to use a 4:3 aspect ratio (that square TV look) and heavy film grain for the 70s scenes. It feels like watching a lost documentary. As the story moves into the 80s, the look shifts to a sharper, but still harsh, VHS/Betacam style. It’s a great technical trick that grounds the story in its era.

The movie centers on a young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) and his relationship with the infamous lawyer Roy Cohn, played with a chilling, lizard-like intensity by Jeremy Strong (Succession). At this point, Trump is the VP of his dad’s company, which is fighting a racial discrimination lawsuit. Trump has a vision for a luxury hotel in a decaying city, and he needs Cohn to make the “problem” go away.

Cohn’s three rules for “winning”—Attack, Admit Nothing, and Never Admit Defeat—become the blueprint for everything that follows.

A Quick Aside: I watched this on Amazon Prime Video, and I have to mention the weird “shopper” pop-ups that appeared during the commercial breaks. Little windows offering more info or “Add to Cart” options for the products being pedaled. It’s a bizarre way to watch a gritty biopic, and it probably goes to show how little I actually get out to the theater these days!

The Dark Side of Mentorship

As a teacher, I found the mentor-protégé dynamic between Trump and Cohn to be incredibly complicated. I’m used to looking at mentorship as something aspirational. Here, it’s a dark mirror. Cohn isn’t teaching Trump how to build; he’s teaching him how to burn the world down.

The problem is that Trump eventually becomes more ruthless at this game than Cohn himself. He surpasses Roy roughly halfway through the movie. Watching them, I wondered: Why did Roy choose him? He clearly saw potential in Trump—someone rough around the edges he could mold into a “killer.”

There is a definite sexual subtext early on. Jeremy Strong plays Cohn with a predatory magnetism that suggests he might be attracted to Trump. Knowing Cohn’s history, that tracks. But as a teacher, I keep coming back to the “why.” In my job, my students are there because they want to learn or just get through the day. In this movie, the “knowledge” being passed down is a poison that the student eventually uses on the teacher.

The “Transactional” Boundary

It is fascinating how Trump sets a “transactional boundary” with Cohn. Maria Bakalova (as Ivana) and Martin Donovan (as Fred Trump Sr.) both do great work showing how everyone in Donald’s orbit is eventually measured by their utility.

This is where the movie format struggles—the chasm between Trump and Cohn grows in the blink of an eye. One day, Trump just decides he doesn’t need Roy anymore. His actions demonstrate it perfectly: the “friendship” Cohn asked for was just another debt to be ignored once the power balance shifted.

The Performance: From Stan to “The Donald”

Sebastian Stan is a great actor. He reminds me a lot of Viggo Mortensen—he just slips into the character’s skin. At first, you’re thinking, “Okay, this is Sebastian Stan in a wig.” But as the film goes on, the transformation into the living caricature we know today is seamless. You see him adopt the hunched shoulders and the specific cadence of speech. By the time he’s sitting with Tony Schwartz to ghostwrite The Art of the Deal, the Sebastian Stan we know is gone.

The Final Verdict

Grade: Recommended.

I’ll be honest: I cannot stand Donald Trump. Not as a person, not as a celebrity, and certainly not as a leader. Having said that, his origin story is damn interesting. It’s like watching the Star Wars prequels to see how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader. Villains are often more interesting than heroes because we want to see the “why.”

Whether you like him or not, Trump plays a massive part in our everyday lives. It’s worth seeing the factors that went into the equation of making the person he is today.

Review Summary

• Film: The Apprentice (2024)

• Director: Ali Abbasi

• Cast: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova

• Key Theme: The “Transactional Boundary”—choosing yourself at the expense of others.

• Verdict: Recommended. A compelling look at a man who decided that “Option C” meant erasing everyone else.

Today’s post is inspired by the WordPress Daily Prompt. While I’ve taken the topic in my own direction for the Road to 1,000 Days, you can find more responses to today’s prompt HERE .

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The Apprentice is now streaming on Prime Video.

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