Reacties

Helemaal eens met de recensie van FilmVandaag.... Mweh, je mist gewoon een goede spanningsboog, meer emoties bij de karakters (vreemd genoeg ja, ze winden zich enorm op, of zijn doodsbang... maar het 'pakt' je gewoon niet als kijker) en ik mis 'closure' - in de zin dat ik niet hou van open eindes. Tenslotte mis je wat elementen die het wat geloofwaardiger zouden maken: passerende jets, militaire eenheden die poolshoogte nemen... wel aardig dat Tesla even totaal gepeopled wordt. Benieuwd of Musk meedeed daarmee of zich nu witheet voorbereidt op een aanklacht ;-)

Irritant vond ik ook de intro op Netflix zelf: er wordt aangegeven dat de mensen in een zware cyberaanval terechtkomen, maar op basis van die paar zinnen verwacht je - nou ja, ik- toch iets anders dan het einde van de wereld, of van een stukje Amerika tenminste..

Wat betreft de strofe dat Hawke en Roberts ongelukkig gecast zijn en geen chemie hebben: het laatste klopt, maar ik denk dat Roberts in deze rol met NIEMAND chemie zou hebben.... ze speelt (en ziet er uit) als een totale argwanende zuurpruim....

Voor wat het waard is: dit heb ik zelf op Rotten Tomatoes geschreven (weet niet of het hele stuk gaat passen in deze ruimte):

I was going to judge this movie a dud while viewing it: 1 star. A bit later on, I started thinking about what the director probably wanted to accomplish. What ‘Leave the World' achieves very well is to lay bare the behavior of (different kinds of) people when they are left alone with just a few others, to their own devices, without any connection to the outside world. Compliments for that. However, the movie also left me feeling empty. If that was another goal, then Mission Accomplished. But obviously no stars for that – at least for me a movie should make me feel fulfilled in some way.

Let's go into that for a while….
The story is basically about Roberts & Hawke and their 2 kids, plus Ali & daughter, who do not know each other but are thrown together by coincidence and then become caught up in apocalyptic circumstances. There are no great events, no heroes - just as it would be for many of us average people in the same circumstances. Again, if that was the goal, it was very well done and it should merit the movie at least 4 stars.

Yet this is diminished by several minuses. In my subjective opinion, I want to be caught up in the story, identify with at least one character, and be surprised at times. This does not happen ! For what reasons? (Attn: spoilers from here on)
i) the characters were not believable enough; ii) most characters irritated me from the start, though near the end they become more understandable and likeable; iii) halfway through it is already clear what is going on and what is going to happen further. No great surprises or climaxes between the characters either, except for a few very scary confrontational moments at about 4/5 of the movie. iv) some camera movements that may have been intended to confer feelings of alienation, feel rather more like unnecessary fancy.

Let me elaborate on the above:
i) First off, the characters were not believable enough to me in narrative and actions. They were rather circumspect in sharing essential and horrific events they were caught up in. Feel free to disagree, but I believe that if a plane would crash in front of us, most of us would not be able to hold back but tell the others immediately. More so if we were a kid and a hundred dear were staring at me. Okay, we might be in shock and say nothing for a while, but then let it out, not start with a lot of fairly insignificant information ('to protect the kids' - who will soon be caught in the turmoil anayway. No logic). When Ethan Hawke encounters a drone coming towards him dropping pamphlets (not bombs), get out of the way quickly, either sideways or drive towards it, under and through. Yet he tries to outdrive it in the same direction.... even under heavy stress I do not think most of us would react like that. Julia Roberts does better when dozens of Teslas come at them uncontrolled. Or rather controlled, but to crash into anything on their way… Again, Hawke doesn't realize what's happening though he just witnessed a hundred other Tesla's stranded… just poorly written.
ii) Irritations: Roberts is obnoxious towards people she does not know. Mahershala Ali is overly polite and very circumspect as to why he arrives in the middle of the night. That would make me suspicious (as it does Roberts). Ethan Hawke is totally lost in the face of the unknown and looks a total coward, until he does step up for the sake of his son. Ali's daughter is arrogant, mistrusting and defensive. And so on. And so on. You might say that on the one hand this is the whole idea behind the movie and the (anti)climax it is working toward. On the other hand, to me the characters are exemplified just too much – the characters become caricatures.
iii) Storyline: well, as mentioned above, it becomes rather predictable from the middle and from then on you have no more than a very mild interest in what's going to happen to whom. One might say that the famous - or infamous - 'Tension Arc' is just not well shaped.... Further, too much loss of logic. I am not sure about airplanes, but certainly ships where the computer controls go haywire can be manually overridden (first half-scary scene) and are moving so slow that here is ample time to do so…. run down to the engine room, reverse it or shut it down - and finally there is no clear closure to the storyline. You get two days in which the life of the characters and the world at large changes completely, but how further, no one knows.
One of the best parts is the little girl escaping into the 'Friends' series fantasy, like what we may want to do when everyting goes to hell, but is not helping the outcome - just keeping our heads in check before we either dive into our bunkers for a year, or failing those sanctuaries either suicide or kill each other.... Realistic, yes. Satisfying, no – but that is my subjective feeling so feel free to disagree on that.
iv) Camera: overall good, but some not too good CGI messes it up at times and especially some fancy movements that are intended to confer alienation (of them and us) are rather just that, fancy movements. Oh yeah: SOUND. Music, what music ? Works very well to alienate you, yes. Horrible all around.

Final verdict: gives you something to think about – what if ? – but too many quirks, lack of logic and lack of closure for my taste. I had more fun reading the review of viewer Thomas D than the whole movie gave me :-))