A clumsy dystopian rehash
Crap. From the get-go Mickey isn't likeable and his fake Southern accent is grating. The rest is a formality, without a protagonist it can't succeed: Thought is speech - not in this movie. It's just speech, no thought. No subtlety at all, as blunt as a wooden spoon. Okja meets Snowpiercer meets The Hunger Games, all in the style of the great Terry Gilliam*. Toni Collette plays Tilda Swinton. Ruffalo injects a bit of Trump - TDS personified, about as witty as a SNL skit. And the voice over? No, we don't need a running commentary, neither did Blade Runner. The dialogue becomes increasingly profane and childish (it's never at an adult level at any stage) similar to how stand up comedians fill their set with expletives when the audience isn't laughing along. Finally, Bong's dystopian vision is tedious; a much smarter dystopia is portrayed in films like Children of Men, which examine humanity without the need for clumsy theatrics.(* Yes, a science fiction vision from the 1980s, like Brazil with a cast full of Python-esque art deco caricatures, doesn't sit well when reproduced in 2025.)
TDS: Trump Derangement Syndrome
SNL: Saturday Night Live
Brazil: 1985 film by Terry Gilliam
Children of Men: best dystopian sci-fi film ever made, prophetic.
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