Don’t Look Up (2021) is a satirical take on how science is received by the American elite in a post-truth world. It is about two talented astronomers warning the POTUS about a comet that is fast heading towards our planet and the impending destruction and the reaction they get for the news from the general public. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence the movie presents important points for our times to ponder, but as a film, it fails to impress as the screenplay after the first hour comes out dreary & repetitive. Available on Netflix, it gets a Raw rating.
Watch the film till the very end; After the credit roll, there is a post-apocalyptic sequence featuring Meryl Streep with her elaborate tattoo that is not to be missed.
In the character of a young astronomer, Kate Dibiasky, who made an earth-shattering (pun intended) discovery, Jennifer Lawrence was dazzling, she adds life to an otherwise dull narration when she screams to express her outburst combining fear, anger, and disappointment. The editor Hank Corwin has done a fine job of fast, sharp editing of scene changes in the first half-hour. Melanie Lynskey, who appeared as the unforgettable Rose in Two and a Half Men, comes as Mrs Mindy, wife of the astronomy professor played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
The film has its moments, like when a three-star general lies for a $10 gain, selling the snacks picked free in the white house lunchroom. In recent years, Hollywood’s favourite punchbag has been the evil bosses of social media firms – in this one too, the founder of a big tech company called BASH, which reminds us of Facebook + Apple is shown to be personifying the vulgar display of wealth.
Don’t Look Up (2021)
If the famous Bruce Willis’ film Armageddon (1998) was about human determination, Don’t Look Up is about the collective stupidity of our species and the greed of a few.
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