Don’t Look Up is a 2021 American satirical disaster movie with an ensemble cast which includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Jonah Hill, Tyler Perry, Cate Blanchett, and Meryl Streep.
Don’t Look Up had a limited theatrical release on 10 December 2021 and started streaming on Netflix on 24 December. The film set a new record for the most viewing hours in a single week on Netflix, and as the second most-watched movie on Netflix within 28 days of release. Red Notice holds the record for being the most-watched movie in the first 28 days of release.
The premise of Don’t Look Up is simple to sum up… a planet-killing asteroid is discovered to be on a collision course with Earth in six months… tick tock.
The Good
This movie is a satirical take on your typical disaster movies such as the classical Armageddon or even 2012.. It is hilarious, even if somewhat a dark comedy, you might think you wouldn’t find the end of the world a funny event but you’d be surprised. Don’t Look Up just could be the thing you need to lighten up the day and reflect on humanity.
But don’t be fooled, just because it tackles things in a humorous manner doesn’t mean that it doesn’t pack some serious insights and themes. The writer, director and producer of Don’t Look Up, Adam McKay says that the movie was created as an allegory to the climate change crisis i.e. the way we have been dealing with the situation from the denial to the opting to profiteer instead of doing what needs to be done.
While the asteroid in the movie might have been a metaphor for the climate change crisis it could also serve as an allegory for almost any cataclysmic disaster that could threaten humanity. The movie could easily be about the COVID pandemic we have been facing…. Or maybe it might end up being literal, if you have watched the news you might have seen that we had an asteroid half the size of a giraffe or a fridge-sized if you cant visualise a half a giraffe crashing into Earth…
Maybe we should stop looking up 😂
The Bad
From experience with the last series I watched which was classified as a parody of psychological thrillers, I feel productions that try to balance the fine line between comedy and serious themes, end up tipping the scale too much to one side either ending up too absurd or too heavy-handed.
Don’t Look Up wobbles between the lines the first two-thirds trying to be a bit light and whimsy while the last third goes very dark…
The Ugly
While it’s mostly a light and funny take on disaster it is relentless in its message of showing how self-absorbed humanity has become, and how we deal with issues as spelt out in the title Don’t Look Up. It exposes a sort of ugly truth about humanity, especially in this digital era with social media where you will find the trending topics to be trivial issues while the important conversations don’t really get coverage..
There is a CEO of tech corporate who gives off Elon Musk meets Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg vibes and an embodiment of the threat technology has on our humanity… makes you think, maybe its not natural disasters we should be on the look out for…
Final Thoughts
Almost every single disaster movie I have watched has begun with people not listening to a scientist telling them something important…. Don’t Look Up is a reminder that we need to save the world while we still have time.
“In any realistic scenario of an existential threat, presumably logic would prevail, at least one would hope,” -Don’t Forget To Look Up A Report by Philip Lubin and Alexander N. Cohen
Have you watched Don’t Look Up? What are your thoughts?
~B
Becoming The Muse 
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