Don’t Look Up Review: Adam Mckay’s Brilliant Satire On The Climate Crisis Is One Of The Best Movies In Netflix History

Director: Adam McKay

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep

Streaming Platform: Netflix (click to watch)

Ratings: 4/5 (four star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

The Power of The Dog and many others … Netflix is ​​not only synonymous with quantity. This year there is again a lot of quality among his productions. In addition, they are usually used to being among those responsible with the most Oscar nominations. His productions are usually on everyone’s lips. Time has come Don’t Look Up which many define as the film with the best deal in the history of the platform.

Don’t Look Up: The Story

Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Dr. Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), both leading a team of astronomical researchers, make a discovery that is as epochal as it is apocalyptic. An immense comet, 9 kilometers wide and the size of Everest, will hit planet Earth within just over 6 months. The damage to the globe will be irreparable: the crash of the asteroid will cause tsunamis over a kilometer high, floods and earthquakes, destroying everything they encounter and decreeing the end of life on Earth. It is not easy to carry the weight of such a revelation on one’s shoulders: dr. Mindy, a scientist on the verge of schizophrenia and depression, decides to support the unfortunate Dibiasky, whose precise and repeated calculations leave no room for other hypotheses to the point that the comet will even bear her name. The two, summoned urgently to the White House, try to convince the president of the United States (a histrionic and amused Maryl Streep) of the imminent devastation, hoping that their dramatic appeal will mobilize the best scientific and military forces to decree the arrest or destruction of the celestial body.

The protagonists are not taken seriously and end up as victims of an asphyxiating and insurmountable circus of power and prejudice, and even appealing to the major American media they encounter nothing but mockery, in a spiral of infotainment, derisive social campaigns and the media pillory of memes. But this is none other than the premise: the two find themselves at every step involved in a power game that gradually becomes bigger and more crushing, involuntarily becoming the bearers of a manipulative and conspiratorial political campaign.

Don’t Look Up Review and Analysis

Unlike the premise, Don’t Look Up is a work capable of not taking itself seriously, written with the intelligence and irony of an author capable of transforming the drama into a pleasantly grotesque satire. In just over two hours of viewing, Adam McKay pours all his hatred towards American contradictions into the glossy and double- dealing mask of politics, into the nakedness of an uncomfortable and omnipresent post-truth, into the realism of a parallel and possible present. It does so with a writing capable of relying on an indefinite number of stereotypes that are never banal and disproportionately current, albeit constantly over the top.
Let’s go by parts. Don’t Look Up is a comedy of about 3 hours long with very direct social criticism. It is something we must be aware of before deciding to hit the play button. Adam McKay’s humor is usually a double-edged sword, because both in this and his latest productions, the story takes place under a premise that is closer to drama.

Throughout the film, things such as political corruption or the ineptitude of people are denounced in the face of something as unlikely as that the end of the world could end up coming. Very successful ideas given the current times and with a very accurate final message, taking into account its release date. All this criticism, in addition, is seasoned with the essence that makes McKay probably one of the best screenwriters on the current scene with a humor that is as subtle as it is absurd that is at times hilarious and works like a charm, something that it also perfectly defines its director.

With a frenetic editing and a direction able to enhance the disarming expressiveness of its actors, a first-rate cast which also includes Timothée Chalamet, Jonah Hill and Ron Perlman. Pawns of a game told in a long story but punctuated by an almost perfect rhythm that will not make the almost two and a half hours of vision weigh at all.

Star Performances

Of the cast we can say that each and every one of them is full. Leonardo DiCaprio is without a doubt the rock star. Not only does it carry the weight of a film that is full of actors and actresses of a very high level, but it offers us one of the most comical performances of his career. There is little to blame for Jennifer Lawrence, who took drugs for one of the scenes (we suppose to get into her role).

Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Timothée Chalamet, Cate Blanchett… All the supporting cast are terrific in their respective roles. But without a doubt, if there is one to highlight, it would be Mark Rylance’s. The also Oscar winner makes the owner of one of the world’s largest electronic equipment and software companies.

The Last Words

Don’t Look Up is an excellent film by Adam McKay, a shrewd and cutting invective against post truth and the relationship between communication and power. A story that is not true, but really possible, which tells the contradictions of a humanity deluded by the fascinating and bewitching patina of the media. A well-directed title, exceptionally interpreted and well written, which plays with irreverent irony on the stereotypes of human behavior. Don’t Look Up is a meme that mockingly looks at you from the screen of your smartphone, laughing at your prejudice and your certainties. Because, in short, it makes you laugh but it also makes you think.