This movie had so many terrible reviews, I had almost decided not to watch it. But over Christmas, with not much to do, the movie beckoned and with its star-studded cast, including Leonardo di Caprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett (not to mention the very brilliant Mark Rylance), it looked too good to miss. Ignore the reviews and watch it yourselves, folks. It is definitely worth a look.
Two scientists (Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio) discover a comet heading straight towards Earth. That comet, predicted to be larger than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, is set to cause an extinction level event in about six months. Despite their efforts to inform the public, no one is interested. The media and the public in general is far more interested in the romantic breakup of a pop star (Ariana Grande) than a comet hurtling towards earth.
Yes. The ‘comet’ is climate change, of course, with a 99.7% chance of destroying humankind. Critics have decried this analogy as too obvious, but to me, the biggest flaw in this analogy is that there is a very big difference between a comet, which can be clearly seen travelling towards Earth, and climate change, which is very much more subtle, often overstated and generally politicised. It is much easier to believe in something that you can actually see. But, once you overlook that, the movie is delicious in its satire, with everyone that you avidly dislike being hauled over the coals in the process. The satire is blunt at times, and overdone in others, but it has some real highlights.
For me, the best scene of the movie was where NASA had decided to send up rockets to try to knock the comet off course. The rockets take off, and all is looking good, but then suddenly, they all turn around and come back down to earth. Why? Because the Silicon Valley billionaire, played by Mark Rylance, had just realised that the comet contains rare minerals that would be worth a fortune on earth. So the mission is aborted, the rockets come back down and the comet continues on its collision course. Somewhat less subtle than Avatar, don’t you think?
It must be difficult to politicise a comet, but Meryl Streep’s performance as POTUS manages it brilliantly. Initially, she ignores it completely, because she doesn’t think it will help her party in the upcoming mid-term elections, but later she decides to politicise it to the point where it is turned into a matter of patriotic pride. Critics have claimed her character is a parody of President Trump, but she could be playing just about any politician on earth. They are all more concerned about re-election than doing the right thing – whatever that is, and once they are in office, they don’t give a damn about the people they are supposed to represent.
For me, it is also delightful in its attacks on the media, Big Tech, social media and the shallowness and stupidity of most people on the planet. We may come to it by different routes, but I agree with almost everything that the movie is trying to say. Of course, there is a special irony in Hollywood actors who fly around the planet in private jets lecturing us all about climate change, but that is nothing new. More importantly, though, the exposure of politicians, the greed of big business, the desecration of the media (represented brilliantly by Cate Blanchett) and the stupidity of the populace who all follow the Twitter hashtag – #Don’t Look Up – are a complete delight. We all know this to be true, of course, but Don’t Look Up brings it to the fore.
Maybe that is why so many reviewers trashed the movie. It shows the media as shallow and self-serving, and the critics are, of course, a part of that. Nothing like self-interest on their part, is there? But to me, that is the best part of the movie. It exposes those that control our lives as the frauds that they are, and it also exposes the sheep that most of us are for actually going along with it.
“Don’t Look Up”: Netflix from December 24 2021
