Wes Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme” opens with a bang: a grisly explosion, a plane crash and a dramatic close-up of tycoon Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro), his battered face so lumpen and purple it resembles eggplant Parmesan. Zsa-zsa is a survivor and a fighter and an indefatigable entrepreneur; his relentless energy is matched by nothing else other then Alexandre Desplat’s thrilling ticking time bomb of a score.

He’s also a one-man plague whose ruinations include famine, slavery and a string of mysteriously dead ex-wives. “I never personally murdered anybody,” Zsa-zsa insists with unconvincing conviction. And yet, Anderson sells us on rooting for this robber baron. We are the film’s mark. It’s a pleasure to be so deftly swindled.

The scheme of the film’s title is Zsa-zsa’s grand pl

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