Bring the Apocalypse

Two Michigan astronomers have discovered a 9-kilometer-diameter comet towards Earth. A ‘planet killer’ who will seal our fate in six months and two weeks. But to the surprise of both, the White House appears to be in ‘denial’ and talk shows and social media mock the danger. This is an important story next to the relationship problems of singer Riley Pina (Ariana Grande). Because does that comet really exist or is it a lucrative project of the space lobby? When the comet is visible, the right-wing US launches the ‘Do Not Appear’ campaign.

This prototype has already struck me as a humorous, but somewhat complex metaphor for climate denial and the ostrich behavior of antivoxes. If half of the population denies the difficult, but unpleasant facts, a catastrophe will be inevitable. But how do you keep such a metaphor new throughout a movie? I’m not sure if half of Hollywood’s A-lists signed for this film in the footsteps of environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio. Wouldn’t this be a good film to be in ostrich jargon?

Conversely: Do not look up Humorous and sometimes hilarious: A ridiculous, sickly satire in Kubrick’s tradition Dr. Strangelov. Denial jokes have not been used for a long time: at some point, the government and the media take the comet seriously. President Meryl Streep’s careless ‘Walk Big’ effect, yes, but it’s a long story. Then the swamp of interests opens: this apocalyptic joke has more twists than a rattlesnake. And how long can a person on Twitter and dictator focus on depressing things like the coming fall?

Adam McKay, the producer of the brilliant TV series, is in excellent shape Next (About the Murdoch clan), the American media and the absurd Will Ferrell once made his directorial breakthrough with a meta-comedy about Magismo: Angerman, Talladeca Knights, The Other Guys. In 2015 McKay was surprised Great short film, An instructive, harsh fun anatomy of the debt crisis. In Sub, His comic biography of Vice President Dick Cheney, his anger at the devastation of America in 2017 sometimes shone a little too much. Do not look up The usual product of the Trump years, a sternly smiling shoulder. Humanity – or rather: America – will become unjust, helpless, hopeless.

McCain’s star cast does just that. Jennifer Lawrence plays Cassandra as astronomer Kate Dibiaski – “We’m all going to die!” – Becomes a rich source of teasing memes. Her boss Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) asks himself: What will Carl Sagan do? It illustrates the ambition of this xanax, zoloft and cialis-swallowing neuron, which can be easily designed by the White House and talk show tuthola Brie Evantee (Cate Blanchett). Meryl Streep, Johnny Orlean as President of Trump, Jonah Hill forming a fun couple as his son and CEO Jason. Behind his throne is Gray Cardinal, who turns out to be Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylans), a dismissive technologist like Andy Warhol.

Not all characters are equally successful – Ron Perlman plays a thankless role as a macho astronaut – and not all issues are equally necessary, but this apocalyptic comedy is so powerful that those loose ends explode. As the comet approached, the satire faded into an almost invisible trail in a frenzy. Everything revolves around money and popularity, inextricably linked by the omnipotence of the algorithm.

In Do not look up McKay has the potential sunglasses for America. His country is not the hope of humanity, but a tumor that threatens the entire planet with nonsense talk, total materialism, technological pride, brain dead infotainment, cultural wars and conspiracy theories. Not a very patriotic film. You quickly take the comet page.