Don't Look Up

I understand why some people hate this film. It feels real in its entirety, it shows you how stupid and insignificant we are and it is extremely apropos today. Also, it was marketed as a comedy, when in fact is a dramatic film that is humorous only in its accurate portrayal of humanity. Then again some people try to "tell you" what it is about and, while it is certainly metaphoric, it isn't about anything more specific than ourselves. It is a mirror. Some people don't like what they see in it.

I found it an almost perfect film, with some deliciously carefully crafted moments and great acting. At first I thought the comedic side was actually too much and wished that someone like Steven Soderbergh made the movie instead, but as I was watching it I started to appreciate how methodical the approach was and now I believe Adam McKay was the right man for the job. I enjoyed the overall plot, I liked the characters and how things were presented, but I loved the little things like, for example, the only scene where Europe is mentioned, as a short scene of a news item when they say they are going to convene and find their own solution, resulting in absolutely nothing. I am European and sad to say it struck home. Or the meal scene at the end, which is both emotional, focusing and reminding us how even that option can be taken away by something as small as a virus.

Annoyingly, in these days movies from the U. S. are becoming more and more of "a color". They are not telling a story, but are taking a side. They are either democrat or republican, conservative or liberal, blue or red, flyover or coast. Don't Look Up is not a big offender, but the language and presentation was clearly on the "coast" side. Thus, it will be probably appreciated by people who already saw the world this way and ignored or at best maligned by the people on the other side. And it's a pity, because this film is meant to bring us together as a civilization and not keep us divided. I feel like it could have done a better job in that direction.

There was one detail that I think McKay got completely wrong. There is no chance in hell the president of the United States would make a public speech and use metric units like kilometers in it. If it weren't for that, I would have rated this 10 stars. Jokes aside, this is a movie you have to watch.

I always like the prospect of a nice disaster film, but I was also intrigued by the fact that this film was labelled as a comedy. Thankfully, this worked rather well, and this film was anything but a disaster (in the metaphorical sense of whatever, you know what I mean!!!)

The cast shone beautifully. Leonardo Dicaprio played the role of a socially out of comfort zone scientist perfectly, Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep were equally as amazing, and I loved the fact that they sneaked Timothee Chalamet in there! But really, I think that Cate Blanchett's performance was the best, and she encapsulated that talk show host in a comedic way that really complimented the film.

Cinematography showed nothing remarkable, but I thought that editing was done rather amusingly, as just cutting to random scenes of random things showed the film's comedic nature.

The soundtrack was surprisingly complimentary: the upbeat jazz score reflected the frenetic, relentless storyline, and the comedic storyline. Writing was brilliant, and there were many jokes which made me laugh out loud, something that I don't often do with films!

Lighting: nothing worthy of comment.

Overall, a good mainstream audience comedy, but not really a filmsy film*. On the whole though, it was a good laugh!

*A film worthy of analysis. Technical term.

I am pretty sure once we go down we are going to go down like this. The way nowadays social media Earth is going on now and the way we handle Covid this is exactly how we are going to finish our lives on this planet. This is not a fiction, this is a documentary.

I may have been slightly kind on the rating I have given to don't look up but I promise that I can justify my choice.

Don't look up is maybe not the most original plot ever but is definitely original in the way it goes about it. If I was to think of disaster movies that take pride and benefit from dark humour this would be right up there. This is obviously helped by spectacular and extremely realistic performances from Leonardo Di' Caprio and Jennifer Lawrence which I know sounds weird as this movie is quite far from realistic, or is it as I believe this is a perfect take on how a government would act towards an extinction level event because after covid I do believe that the government has the power to not give a Sh** about the people which is why I do believe this is an extremely convincing and proper way of acting these roles. Don't Look Up also helps to show us what lengths people and the media will go to, to make sure that know one cares or knows about a life changing event or in this case a life ending event. This is mainly why I believe this movie deserves a 9/10 just because of how I strongly believe a government or object of power would act towards this sort of issue.

Another aspect that is touched upon which I believe really helps the movie is the idea of greed and corruption within a government as in the end the USA goes to huge lengths to make money out of an extinction level event however this is extremely true and I can personally see this happening as technically it is happening right before us with sales of weapons and explosive goods with ongoing wars. With that aside Don't Look Up really sparks fear and question into the mind of the viewer as it really makes you question is this what would really happen if an event like this came to fruition it also make us question the affect that social media has on every single person when there is no hard evidence only theory as in a modern world this happens on the daily however if I was to compare this to the theory's posed in Oppenheimer there was no social media to spread question of if a bomb would work so this movie really goes to show how far back as a race we have gone and how much we have changed for the worse.

Overall, Don't Look Up is a great film but also quite a frightening one as it goes to show what could actually happen if evidence of a mass destruction event was found. And with all of this I believe Don't Look Up is a great film and is a must watch for people who like movies like, 2012 and the day after tomorrow.

Leonardo DiCaprio - flawless and channelling his inner Leonard Hofstadter.

Jennifer Lawrence - also flawless. Didn't realise how much I missed watching her in films.

Everyone else - all amazing, all did a brilliant job.

The writing was spot on, though the theme was pretty dark the comedic moments came in at the right time. There were some parts where it dragged a little but it soon picked back up. There were nice little nuances throughout that captured each character.

With such a big cast of absolute talent it felt like there was a danger the film wouldn't find the balance for all their stories, but it does and just shows the skill of the director and editors.

A poignant look at what our reactions might be to such a disaster, indeed what our reactions are right now when faced with a choice between believing scientific facts and verbal garbage from political blowhards and tech giant psychos who have no idea what they're doing.

Satire at its best.

Once the credits hit make sure you hang around. There's a clip near the start of them and one right at the end.