Ari Aster’s pandemic western doesn’t really have my vote.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I saw the teaser poster for Ari Aster’s latest movie “Eddington.” I saw some buffalo jumping off a cliff, so I would assume something twisted would happen, considering “Hereditary,” “Midsommar,” and “Beau is Afraid.” And then I saw the trailer which admits that it is a western taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic and featuring a confrontation between Joaquin Phoenix as a sheriff and Pedro Pascal as a mayor.

So far, the movie opens with a homeless guy wandering aimlessly in the streets and shouting nonsense. Next comes an election. Then, comes a whodunit and howcatchem. At least I think it’s like one of those. And it all ends up explaining the very nature of the buffalo poster. As I begin to watch “Eddington,” I was thinking this is interesting and was wondering how it could be an Aster opus. But as I finished watching it, I felt myself in a tizzy, because of all the craziness that goes down in this side of the pandemic.

The town is Eddington, New Mexico. Phoenix plays Joe Cross, a sheriff from another county, who hates wearing masks because he can’t breathe in them, and uses his higher authority to let him go into grocery stores without wearing one. He believes the pandemic is a joke, and that the town is safe from any harm. He believes the mayor Ted Garcia’s (Pascal) methods are useless, which is why he decides to run against him in the campaign.

But there are more conflicting issues, such as the George Floyd murder that sparks Black Lives Matter protestors, and Joe’s wife Louise (Emma Stone) being disillusioned by her husband running against her former lover who ruined her life. As you can see, she mostly stands like a zombie during the movie, and barely has anything to say about her husband’s choices. And all of this is why she runs off with the radical cult leader Vernon Jefferson Peak (Austin Butler), which leaves her mother Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell) disillusioned.

Joe has two cops in his precinct: the officer Guy (Luke Grimes) and the trainee Michael (Michael Ward). The young cop finds himself in the crossroads, because he’s a black cop who acknowledges that a black man has been killed by white cops. And he’s questioned during the protests. And there are also moments when people film Joe trying to keep peace, and hoping he would crack so they can give him a bad name. So, we sure have a lot of Instagram and Twitter videos and so forth.

All the politics and dark comedy presented in “Eddington” seem worthy of joining the “South Park” universe, and while I haven’t seen the new episodes, I know that older episodes have pushed themselves to new heights. I admire the courage and attitude in Phoenix, Pascal, and Ward, and Aster guides them with the right poetic values and they do resonate with how people viewed the pandemic and how there are those who think they don’t need to wear masks. I hated wearing masks because they would fog up my sunglasses outside, but I also didn’t want to get myself or anyone else sick.

But what keeps me from recommending this movie is how cynical it gets towards the second half. There are assassinations, guns, protests, and bad decisions made within the characters, and it’s often difficult to stay completely focused. A movie like “Civil War” represented where our country is heading if violence keeps emerging, but it also represented the kind of characteristics within the people trying to survive and fighting back when need being.

I’m sure a lot of you Aster fans are curious to see “Eddington,” so I don’t want to spoil much for you. But I felt it was too much for me to process and handle.