On the heels of the 2020 election, "The Glorias" couldn't have premiered at a more opportune time.

The biopic, directed by Julie Taymor ("Frida" and "Across the Universe"), is ambitious to represent feminist icon Gloria Steinem in an artistic style, but the film flies too close to the sun.

There are plenty of great ideas and aspects of Gloria's life to explore within the script, but they needed to focus on a few and not glaze over everything to the point that it loses emotional weight.

From the very beginning of this film, it's clear that viewers will be bouncing back and forth between younger and older versions of Gloria. All four versions of Gloria (played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Lulu Wilson, Alicia Vikander and Julianne Moore) are shown in black-and-white picture riding a bus to represent a space for Gloria's psyche to think about herself and her influences in life.

Viewers catch a glance at her hysterical mother who was a journalist under a male pen name and her carefree father who travelled the world as Gloria grew older and divorced from her mother. They also get to see her friendships with Dorothy Pitman Hughes (Janelle Monáe) and Bella Abzug (Bette Midler) as well as her travels in India and her opportunity to become a co-founder of Ms. Magazine.

Clocking in at about two-and-a-half hours, the movie feels extremely drawn out. It's interesting to see her relationships come to life with these influential milestones, but there isn't enough to feel emotionally satisfied and feel the value of Gloria's historical significance to women. Instead, it feels empty and disengaging considering how hefty topics mentioned are like feminism, abortion and civil rights.

But when the film does try to attract the audience's attention, it doesn't work and it feels out of place. Specifically in one scene, Gloria is being interviewed and the host asks her why she isn't married yet. The entire scene turns into a "Wizard of Oz"-like sequence and blows away the serious tone that was present before the tornado showed up. And that isn't a good thing.

It's understandable to see that audiences are looking at what's going on inside Gloria's head, but the tone shift still doesn't work. And dream sequences like this one continue throughout, and they don't always make sense.

Despite the movie's flaws, one of its shining lights was Alicia Vikander who kills it as a younger version of Gloria. Her acting commands a subtle leadership yet brings fiery passion to the character when necessary to drive a narrative point.

If viewers see the movie, they should watch it for Vikander.

Score: 4/10

"The Glorias" is available for purchase on Digital and Streaming exclusively on Prime Video starting Wednesday, September 30.

Connect with Samantha Incorvaia on Twitter at @s_incorvaia.