I watched ‘Don’t Look Up’ as a part of my holiday movie schedule. I knew I would love this movie just from the trailer. I mean it talks about a doomsday being handled by rich people and politicians to their convenience. I knew I would laugh so hard and have lingering thoughts in the middle of the night after completing it.
So, here’s my thought on the movie. I know I am not someone who focuses on the technical aspects of the film. I only talk about the story, what it made me feel, and the characters. So that’s what I will do today as well.
‘Don’t look up’ is a Netflix movie with an ensemble cast and the movie got released for Christmas 2021 on Netflix. The movie immediately hooks you when Kate Dibiasky finds a rare comet that is later named after herself. As the scientist folk headed by Dr.Randall Mindy calculate the comet’s trajectory, they find that it is headed straight towards the earth and is 8-10 kilometers wide. This deadly comet is calculated to cause a planetary extinction.
That’s how the story starts and we travel with Dr. Mindy and Kate on their mission to stop the comet from destroying the whole planet. This movie has so many shining moments. Even its title is a result of the well-depicted culture we see around the world in the name of politics.
The movie to sum it up in a line- follows these two scientists who meet up with the president of the USA to do something about the comet and only to know that politicians won’t do anything unless it benefits them.
The time to time visual of animals who are part of the planet doing their own thing not knowing the impending doom is so beautiful and it tells you so much. We see desperate scientists trying to stop the catastrophe. We see billionaire tech-businessman trying to make a fortune for themselves even in dire situations. We see politicians not caring about people’s well-being unless it benefits their political agenda. We see people obsessing over celebrities instead of their planet. We see people getting easily influenced by promises of money and work.
This movie has no filter as far as I know. They showed everything for real. Yes, the world is so messed up that even if a comet approached tomorrow most of the things portrayed in the movie are definitely happening. People are so caught up in social media, celebrity gossip that they will look the other way when real problems are voiced out. The media channels being too polished and easily influenced by the government in power shows how there is not a lot of true journalism anymore.
Ariana Grande who plays Riley the pop singer sings a song to bring awareness to the destruction of the planet. Those lyrics are so funny and at the same time hard-hitting. It is so on point for the movie but makes us think about a lot of problems of today’s world. Cate Blanchett, Tyler Perry, Rob Morgan, Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance all do a great job at portraying their characters. Their characters are all well defined and I didn’t see them for their fame but for their character.
Jennifer Lawrence’s portrayal of a helpless, scared, emotionally unstable scientist who discovered the comet, is the one that you will connect with. Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrayal of Dr.Mindy the shy, nervous scientist who is always worried and feels timid by all the powerful people around him is something to remember. He is so silent throughout the movie even with the pressure of knowing that everyone is going to die and the whole planet will perish. But his outburst at the end where he asks everyone to believe in the truth is something to remember.
The movie shows how even though there are so many animals on the planet, which just go about their days without knowing anything about the comet. But at the same time, we the people, like Kate feel so emotional, people causing a ruckus, politicians playing their games, businessmen trying to benefit their companies, and people praying frantically. The jarring difference is shown to make us feel so many things while watching the movie.
There are so many things that happen in the movie which make you say ‘the irony though!’ or ‘what the heck is going on?’. My suggestion is- to watch the movie and feel it for yourself.
Unlike so many doomsday movies, here we see the ugly truth.
Spoilers:
Not everyone is lucky enough to survive. Not everyone wants to!
The scene where you see Peter Isherwell’s algorithm’s prediction becomes a lie about Dr.Mindy feels so bittersweet.
Even in the final scene, the president doesn’t care about anything but herself. That’s the reality of our world. But sadly we can’t do anything. This movie is perfect in no sense. It has so many flaws but the message is loud and clear. Though they could have avoided the caricature or direct finger-pointing type of portrayal- at least the issues are real. So now you decide whether to watch the movie or not! Happy Holidays!
Happy reading!
Happy writing!
Live through stories!
