Don’t Look Up
Summary:
Don’t Look Up is a satire following the discovery of a comet on a crash course with Earth. Shortly after the discovery is made, Dr. Randall Mandy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Kate Dibiasky(Jennifer Lawrence) take this report directly to the White House, deeply disturbed. Although they possess information about an extinction level event, their concerns fall on deaf ears, and The President(Meryl Streep) decides to sit and assess until after the midterms so as to not lose. With no other choice, our pair of astronomers leaked the very classified information.
Characters:
Randall Mindy is a professor of astronomy at Michigan State University. Studying under him is Kate Dibiasky, a PhD candidate. Randall is a married man with special appeal after appearing on the news. Kate, after appearing in the news, is seen as a lunatic and crazy. However, Kate’s heart is in the right place, as her attitude is only out of concern for others.
Review:
When I first read the brief description of Don’t Look Up, I initially thought that this movie would be some sort of horror movie. Instead, it was a satire of the current state of the world when it comes to hearing about disasters. With a sprinkling of comedy, Don’t Look Up was a fun movie to watch.
To start with the negatives, there were some instances in the movie where the plot seemed to slow down for no real reason. Those slow points appeared in the middle of the movie, and it didn’t make any sense for the movie to slow down. Other than those moments, there are a few scenes where the satire is too on point. There’s no subtlety and it makes it feel like the viewer can’t take a hint. Personally, I didn’t mind some of these scenes. I was watching for fun, and it was fun to watch.
So, moving onto the positives, this movie is fun to just watch, although there are plenty of moments where everything becomes painful due to the ignorance of the characters in the movie. But these painful movies really hammer home the satirical nature of the movie, so I can’t fault it there. Speaking of the painful moments to watch, the cast did a wonderful job portraying their characters. The incompetent character played by Jonah Hill is the perfect example. He plays his role so well as the narcissistic man child so well that I actually cringed and hated his character. The other actors did just as well. All the characters I was supposed to hate, I hated, and the characters I was supposed to like, I liked. I also liked Randall’s character. Even though he changed a bit throughout the movie, I really liked how his character turned out. Plot wise, I had fun with it too. Just being able to sit back and watch the chaos was great, and I especially enjoyed the ending.
Overall, Don’t Look Up was a fun movie to watch. It was even more fun to watch with others, as the characters and the plot are entertaining to experience. If you aren’t offended by satire and are in for a good time, then this movie is for you.
Favourite Moment (Spoilers):
My favourite moment in Don’t Look Up was the ending scene with the 1% on a new planet. It was very satisfying to see that all of them were wiped out by the resident species on that planet. It was karmic justice that I enjoyed watching.
Review:
This is a film that the only thing I knew about going in was that it was a satire and boy is that an understatement. If you don’t like satire then immediately this is not a movie for you, specifically if you don’t like political satire. This whole film seems to mock the way that government and media handle times of crisis and that’s where they get most of the humour. This film is listed as a drama yet I found it to be hilarious with the way it laughs at many of our issues as a society especially when it comes to the concept of truth. The characters are all great and they all go through varying arcs especially Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence’s characters who both start out as awkward scientists but who’s lives take significant turns after their discovery of the comet. The entire cast is great with some A list celebrities like Jonah Hill, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Timothée Chalamet who all do great with their parts bringing a lot of humour. I like the way the story progresses though the story itself is not the most complex I enjoyed seeing it unfold and I was constantly invested in what was going on. This movie is quite long but it is constantly enjoyable and I never really got bored as I was curious how the film would end. This movie might also anger some people on both sides of the American political spectrum due to it’s on the nose depiction of certain elements and people. This movie doesn’t care though as it is satire and it never stops satirizing the scenario and the filmmakers view of how crises are handled.
All in all this is a movie I thoroughly enjoyed and it is one I would recommend if you like satire or if you have a sense of humour when it comes to politics. So hop on Netflix and check it out for yourself!
Favourite Moment (Spoilers):
I liked the ending because it hit the message home that when we let the truth and science get muddled in politics and media nothing gets resolved and we all lose. It was cool to see the process of the Earth being destroyed and people’s reactions.
Review:
Don’t Look Up has a massive cast, with a ton of A-list actors, and it takes a very strong political stance which I thought was hilarious. The movie itself was really well written, and it moved pretty well along the way. I loved Jonah Hill in this kind of a role, the spoiled, preoccupied **Shower in French**(go look it up). DiCaprio and Lawrence fit perfectly into their roles, and I thought they both represented a personality type within the satire quite well. It is often we see Netflix throw money at the wall and hope it turns out to be a half-okay product, but this time it was money well spent.
The plot itself isn’t surer deep, but it is pretty darn entertaining. The idea of watching the world deal with potential extinction from a more drama based angle instead of an action based angle was really unique and well done. Pair that with some comedy and you get a movie that moves in 7 different directions, doesn’t seem to follow a straight path, and pokes fun at pretty much everyone in a position of power ever. The actual satire is what shines through the most, even if the comedy doesn’t quite hold its weight the entire way through. I thought the ending was absolutely fantastic, and it stayed the path set up by the rest of the movie.
Honestly, this is probably either going to be loved or hated by a lot of people, depending on a couple of factors. There are jokes on both sides of the political lines, so if you are unable to take a little bit of that, I would stay away from this one. If you can enjoy satire for exactly what it is, go turn on Netflix, grab some chips, and give this a whirl.
Favourite Moment (Spoilers):
The ending. Without a doubt. The way it ends is so picture perfect and true to the rest of the movie. The way that everyone dies, even the rich, is just a higher form of mockery towards those that think they can outsmart mother nature.
