*Note: Spoiler alert in content below.
Most people know now of the new Netflix film “Just Look Up,” but maybe those that watch it don’t realize that this film was obviously steered from a silly film from 2006, which we were then intrigued by called “Idiocracy.”
Idiocracy was a social satirical film about what might occur in the future as well as the potential demise of the human race, based on the current culture in the United States and the potential future detriment of society, which specifically touches on issues including dysgenics, commercialism, and anti-intellectualism. Private Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson), an average American, is selected as a guinea pig for a top-secret hibernation program in 2005, but is forgotten by the military, awakening to a future in 2505 so incredibly moronic that he ends of being the most intelligent person alive. And only he is capable of saving the human race, if only they would let him…
Does this last part sound familiar?
Although I truly appreciate the all star cast in “Just Look Up” and the incredible performances done by each and every one of these stellar actors, particularly by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence (bravo), I pained through this film and couldn’t wait for it to end. The plot of this film was overall a clever one, it was just not properly executed. It seemed immediately like a poor attempt at making a modernized version of Idiocracy, but that is not modernized enough to be credible in the eyes of the viewers of this time.
If maybe there was a minor background story to explain the current state of things in the film, how they got there, and/or why everyone was so incredibly moronic would have been a start. Even though we currently live in a state of extreme uncertainty and I dare say slightly moronic at times, I feel that even the U.S. government in our current state of affairs wouldn’t be brainless enough to ignore 98% accurate scientific data confirming that a giant comet was soon to hit the Earth and would result in total global extinction. And where were the other governments in all of this? This was never explained. It was as if the U.S. was the only responsible party, which seemed odd in itself.
On a more scientific note, they state in the film that the aforementioned comet was 9km wide and was larger than the comet that destroyed the dinosaurs… *ahem*
The great comet that hit in Mexico about 66 million years ago, making a 93 mile-wide and 12 mile-deep crater into our Earth and resulted in the extinction of most of the dinosaurs, is actually estimated to have had an impactor diameter of around 10km (some scientists say the diameter of the comet before impact could have been between 11-81km), making the real comet larger than the make-believe comet within this film. At least get your facts straight…
I just felt they tried too hard and sometimes too little, failing to get across the moral of the story, which is too bad, as I truly believe it could have resonated more with the viewers if it was executed properly.
Life's Many Experiences 