Adam McKays latest movie Don´t Look up is nominated for an Oscar as best movie in 2022. You can read more about who votes for the Oscars in my other article.
The director who already won Best Screenplay for The Big Short is known for his fast and unique style. The Netflix movie Don´t Look up starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Jennifer Lawrence shows again that movies can be made in a different way.
It is Netflix’s second entry to the Oscars in this year 2022.
In contrast to The Power Of The Dog, it depicts humanity’s approach to all problems today.

Even the ones who looked up at the beginning, look down when death cannot be prevaled.

Synopsis of Don´t Look Up

[Attention: May contain spoilers]

Synopsis:

The promising PhD student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers a comet that will hit earth in about 6 months. Together with her handsome professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo Di Caprio), she tries to warn US president Orlean (Meryl Streep) to prevent the disaster. But this turns out to be more complicated than they would expect.
Eventually, the president and her son (Jonah Hill) tackle the “Comet Dibiasky” as a threat because it will win the electoral votes. Together with Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance), CEO of a huge tech company, they develop a strategy to destroy the comet and harvest it for its minerals.

Looking for the deeper meaning

Obviously Don´t Look Up is talking about a comet that will hit the earth.
But the movie is talking about humanity’s approach in tackling threatening events in general.

The most commons today are our handling of Covid or the climate crisis.

The shocking part about McKay’s movie is that it is so true.
As in reality, there are the ones accepting the problem approaching it emotionally. (Dibiasky).
Others simply deny the problem (President Orlean) and some try to get everyone on the same side. (Dr. Mindy)

On the way, the problem itself becomes less important and the two parties (Look Up / Don´t Look Up) fight a war of belief rather than one of solution.

While the Don´t Look Up-front names the comet after Dibiasky, she is the one telling the truth. Them wanting to shoot it down aligns with the wanting to shut Kate Dibiasky up.

Who is the main character in Don´t look up?

It is always interesting who the story focuses on. There are Dr. Mindy and Kate Dibiasky who are transporting the action during the scenes.
In my opinion, what makes a good main character is driving the action on one hand, and on the other, they have to undergo change.
Kate Dibiasky (Jeniffer Lawrence) is not changing over the course of the movie. We can relate to her because she speaks the truth.
Dr. Mindy (Leonardo DI Caprio) instead undergoes change from the beginning to the end.
He is convinced that the comet is real, but he tries to reason with people of power. He changes from being shy to a sexy science professor until he realizes the deeper meaning of his life. His family, wife, and friends.

Don´t Look Up – Hidden Message

What´s the takeaway message? It seems McKays is trying to convince even the last Anti-Covid followers to overcome their fear and open their minds to science.
But the ending holds another message.

The ending of Don´t Look up explained

Dr. Mindy and Kate reunite and hold a final feast with their family.
They have tried to convince everybody to do something against the comet and told them to look up. But as the last hope vanishes the only thing they can do is sit, eat, and Don´t Look Up themselves.

As the comet hits the earth and destroys all living things of the blue marble one spaceship escapes into the unknown universe. It is President Orlean and Peter with a selection of high staff of the white house.
As they land on an undiscovered planet and get in contact with the fauna, the yet-to-discovered animals (A herd of “Bronteroc”, as the A.I. of Peter calls them) start eating them.
If humanity wasn´t capable of saving their own planet, maybe they shouldn´t start inhabiting another.

Critic points about Don´t Look up:

Despite the awful marketing campaign and the trailers who presented it as pure comedy, the movie shook me up in an interesting way. The phenomenon of earthś destruction isn´t new (e.g. Armageddon), but McKay shifted the problem from the difficulty of a solution to a media war of convincing beliefs.

The greatest point of criticism for me is that he aligned a rather US-centric worldview. All the other nations are basically not doing anything, except the Asian space program which fails.

All in all, it is more a horror movie if I think about how the world treats comparable problems at hand.

What are your thoughts on this one?