Don't Look Up

DON'T LOOK UP | Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence | Official Trailer | Netflix

Documenting the discovery of a 10km wide ‘planet killer’ on its collision course for earth, Don’t Look Up is more apocalyptic science-fiction than McKay’s previous flurry of surprisingly-brilliant biopics. However, whereas Cheney’s rise to power or the 2008 financial crisis seemed very much within McKay’s ambit, Don’t Look Up, for better or for worse, delineates the very limits of his comedy stylings and feels more like a compilation of off-cuts from a SNL cold open than a nuanced exposé on the escalating climate crisis.

If anything is to be taken from this film, it’s not that our twitter-frenzied, ostracising, Starbucks-guzzling culture is inherently doomed, but that there are still a few remaining stars and directors in Hollywood, yet to be snatched up by the franchise behemoth, still attempting to produce original adult-oriented fictions. Fronting Don’t Look Up is an ensemble with so many accolades between them that it’s hard not to get lost in their magnificent sheen. Co-starring in their first production with the Netflix streaming giant is Leonardo DiCaprio as fretful, anxiety-ridden astrologist, Dr. Randal Mindy, and Jennifer Lawrence as his aid and student, Kate Dibiasky.