REVIEW #124 Don’t Look Up (2021)

Don’t Look Up is the latest Netflix original to hit the streaming platform and the film is directed by Adam McKay. Two unknown astronomers discover a comet that will destroy the earth, they are forced to take up a media tour to warn the world of what is to come, in the hope of urging to the governments the intervene. 

CAST & THE ACTING 

Don’t Look Up has one hell of a cast, led by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence who play the two astronomers that discover the comet. The pair portray two very different characters and both deliver strong performances. Especially DiCaprio who takes on a role I’ve never quite seen him in before. He plays the anxious and panicked scientist well and what’s more impressive is that his Dr Randall Mindy almost develops an alter ego whilst being in the limelight after the discovery. This forces DiCaprio to adjust his personality at many different points in the film, very subtle changes but very effective. Timothee Chalamet has a small role in the second act of the film but he creates a really likeable character and ends up having great chemistry with Jennifer Lawrence. Jonah Hill was one person I was looking forward to seeing in this film but his character was more of a gimmick than anything else, which was disappointing because it really wasted his talents, the comedy come across as cringy and didn’t land at all really. Meryl Streep played the American President and again I think she fell victim to poor writing because that role also come across as more of a gimmick which I will go into in a bit more detail in the next category. 

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

I think the foundations of the film had the potential to be a really good drama which would have really utilised the cast. Unfortunately I think it was more of an attempt to have a comical dig at the government and how their greed negatively impacts their decision making process. I know Don’t Look Up is supposed to be a comedy disaster film but quite frankly the comical elements just didn’t land at all for me. As I mentioned above if they just made it a drama I think it would have been rated a lot higher. I think they created two really good characters with DiCaprio’s Dr Randall Mindy and Lawrence’s Kate Dibiaski because although they were both astronomers, their personality’s were completely different which made them quite an interesting partnership. They explored the effects the media and being in the limelight can have on people, with Lawrence falling off the grid and DiCaprio’s character going from a caring family man to a cheat and almost a sell out. But what I did appreciate was they brought in full circle and gave both characters a really heartwarming ending. The big ending was not expected, it’s bold for sure and something I didn’t expect but again I think that was even hindered by the writers/directors need to make one final dig at the government and the elite. 

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

I think the cinematography and effects were kept pretty simple, there were some scenes that were captured nicely but in general there isn’t anything I would say call fantastic visuals. I did like the scene where DiCaprio’s character was having a panic attack in the toilet, the edges of the frame seemed to get darker and darker which I felt was symbolic of the attack and him feeling that everything was closing in on him. I would say the only special effects were probably the shots where they were showing the asteroid heading to earth, the CGI was pretty realistic so nothing to complain about there. There was some interesting camerawork at times, for example when the world could finally see the asteroid in the sky the camera started to get a little shaky, almost like it was a small handheld camera. Even though this is such a simple technique to illustrate a chaotic scene, I do always appreciate it and it’s something I think works well, even if others disagree. 

OVERALL (6/10)

I think Don’t Look Up was hindered by the genre in which it was targeted for, instead of a comedy disaster film I think it would have worked so much better as a drama. They had such a talented cast to really make this a powerful film, DiCaprio was fantastic, Lawrence and Chalamet performed well but unfortunately the gimmick style comedy wasted Jonah Hill and Meryl Streep. The storyline was completely let down at the writers or directors aims to constantly make fun of the government and paint them as greedy and useless. Even if that’s partly true the way they tried to portray that, failed badly and the comedy just didn’t land at all in my opinion. The film looks good, there are some nice shots but nothing that really stands out as amazing. The end credit scene, if you can call it that, sums up the filmmakers failures in Don’t Look Up, completely pointless and another failed attempt at comedy. 

Thanks for reading.

Callan