Don’t Look Up, apparently the critics just didn’t look

The world is ending, and nobody cares. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Our scientists have been practically shouting about the end of days that our inaction and negligence towards global warming will bring, but the response from the majority (read: right-wing) has been pretty underwhelming. This kind of passive and nonchalant reaction isn’t new, it has been prevalent over the past few decades. It was especially highlighted during the last two years when misinformation ran rampant and a general disposition to outrightly reject rational voices from the likes of Dr. Fauci became the dividing norm.

Not a better moment than now for such a movie, Don’t Look Up is touted as a close representation of our reactive action, or rather inaction, towards global urgencies like climate change or a pandemic. Received as the brainchild of famed filmmaker and writer Adam McKay, the film follows two Midwestern research astronomers as they discover a giant comet hurtling towards earth, expected to make an impact within six months and consequently kill all life on the planet. This discovery leads to a frustratingly difficult path of getting everyone to acknowledge the graveness of this planet-killing conundrum.

The obstacles in their path comprise of all the classic tropes that resemble reality to a disturbing degree; a Janus-faced political leader more worried about her next election than an extinction event, brought to life by the impeccable Meryl Streep; her cynical and self-serving staff, showcasing the impeccable comedic timing of Jonah Hill; overly peppy media powerhouses that are more interested in facile entertainment than truth, characterised by Tyler Perry and Cate Blanchett; and socially awkward billionaire tech tycoons who only feign interest in the greater good but are innately gravitated to where their wealth can be exacerbated, portrayed brilliantly by Oscar-winner Mark Rylance. Don’t Look Up also happens to star two of the most famous actors in the world, Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, as the underling astronomers dedicated to broadcasting the truth, even though some of them get swayed by temptations of fame. One glance at the star-packed cast is enough to convince every generation to immediately watch this film, but the star power didn’t stop the arbiters of cinema from tearing the feature to bits.

Criticisms for the movie have been more or less consistent on one single note; that it’s a low hanging fruit the movie latches itself on. The comet becomes the obvious metaphor for climate change, whereas the many character tropes serve to embody various real-world individuals, from the likes of Donald Trump to Elon Musk. While subtlety may be absent in this satirical venture, would it have really helped in making the point of the movie? Marvel movies consistently amass critical approval despite their plots practically derived from a single overused stencil. Granted, those films are graded for what they are, whereas satire aficionados like to be challenged. On that note, one can’t help but ask what Don’t Look up intends for itself to be. What McKay achieves in this film is a perfect satirical mix that seamlessly treads the line between cinematic absurdity and real-life. The people caught up in a critique of how the movie delivered its theme rather than focus on the actual theme of the movie fail to realise that their divided response is ironically the very thing McKay satirises. Bluntness of the message need not be considered the film’s flaw, but rather its unique selling punch, for not everything requires a nuanced approach, especially with a subject matter as important and as hotly debated as climate change.

Subtlety was not the point. If the film’s aim had been to embody a conceptual mind-meddling art house aggregate, then this analysis would look a lot different. However, Don’t Look Up is anything but that; its primary motive derived from the fact that squabbling about how the message gets delivered is preposterous in the face of human extinction. The characters of DiCaprio and Lawrence try pertaining to a friendly script when taking the media spotlight for their deadly warnings, but their eventual anger-fuelled meltdowns throughout the movie, reminiscent of the “I’m mad as hell” monologue from the Peter Finch starrer Network, serve as the context Mckay tries to drive; that we should all be crying out about climate change and global warming as it is: a horrifying reality of our era.

Throughout the course of the film, the truth-stating underlings hear several dismissive statements from high officials, ranging from the president trivialising the ordeal by stating “you know how many end of the world meetings we’ve had over the years” to news executives telling them to “keep it light.” Not farfetched from reality, this display of indifference towards grave danger is exactly what many money-hungry officials in power showcase during world-changing events, especially witnessed during the pandemic, and even more so amidst the fight for legitimizing concerns regarding climate change. Sure, no one likes to have to be the one to acknowledge that our dear planet is turning against us, all due to the shard of corruption in humankind that brought about this extinction level threat. But the movie does exactly that, culminating success on one single aspect of its theme; urgency. There is no time for interpretation or subtly mixed messages where a viewer is led to an eureka moment, eventually transcending into complete social awareness. It’s already too late and the theme corroborates that haste. The point being, there’s no salvation coming for us. There is no big red button you get to push a day before the end of all times to avoid certain death for humanity. Much like a slow burn thriller, our reality is already in the second half of a script we ourselves tainted, amping up to its climactic point.

The narrative of the film does get dark, but what brings the film to soundness is its harmony between nihilism and absurdity with effectively delivered humour. Lawrence plays the character to nail with her deadpan comedy and the running gag of her consistently questioning as to why a military general charged her for what later turned out to be free snacks was one of the best bits in the entire film, whereas Timothee Chalamet’s evangelical gamer boy persona really steals the spotlight despite limited screen time. DiCaprio and Streep prove their acting prowess once again, delivering their character to portrayals brilliantly. Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi’s cameos are a treat during the film, where they also end up performing a hysterically satirical song, with McKay establishing how much influence celebrities and pop culture icons have in our society. With an extraordinary soundtrack, the movie ends on an extremely dystopian note, commendable for McKay to not shy away from delivering a gloomy subject to its entirety, as Bon Iver plays us out through his depressingly beautiful new track, Second Nature.

In other worthy elements to highlight, there’s a particular line in the movie where DiCaprio’s character says: “We really did have everything.” As vividly striking the dialogue is, it becomes even more jarring with the unmistakable experience of living in this decade, as extremely erratic monsoons and floods knock on our coastal cities, as wildfires rage on simultaneously in several parts of the planet, and we come to terms with what is truly happening; the world is ending, and we could have done more to prevent this reality coming to fruition. We can do more.

Given what the world witnessed in the past two years, the more hyperbolic plot points of the film didn’t seem as exaggerated. It’s a horrifying notion to come to terms with, but the movie Don’t Look Up is much more a documentary than it is a satirical comedy.

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