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Limitless: Shock (2022)
More of the same, really
The series continue to be average. In fact, it would be below average if there wasn't such a charismatic and interesting movie star behind it! It seems like all you need to do to create a documentary nowadays is a lot of money, be a famous person and have cutting-edge tech equipment.
Make no mistake: There's no science in this documentary. This is just another form of entertainment masked with "science", "experts", "research" and the like. There aren't more than 2 experts consulted on any topic and there isn't a single serious research cited. They don't even explain how cold works in the basic level so the body reaps the benefits. The documentary is not really informative but its visuals keep you connected to the episode.
In one part of the documentary, they talk about a Shugendo ritual. It was really interesting, but they said very little about it. They showed a man doing one of the rituals but they didn't mention how long was the ritual for him, what were the health risks, how many times does he have to do that, what's the temperature of the water, etc. Even TikTok can be more informative that this!
Cool cinematography and music, though.
Limitless: Stress-Proof (2022)
Just OK science. Better than average, but not high quality, though.
Documentaries these days are more about the visuals, the cool movie stars and "extreme" experiences but no much science. I learned more from reading the first paragraphs about stress on Wikipedia. That said, this documentary is way better than the Will Smith's one.
A stress training, or any "training" whatsoever, takes more than a couple of days to get incorporated into one's mind and body. And because of that, I think this chapter is a bit misleading. People want everything right away, but that's not how psychology and permanent change works. The techniques shown in the show are accurate and effective, but not in such a short time. At that stage, they are just tricks that may work or not in real situations.
Also, the stress response is a normal and necessary response in situations such as walking down a crane 200+ meters high. It's a survival response! And it's not only measured by beats per minute.
Welcome to Earth: Beyond Fear (2021)
Just a very expensive videoblog of a celebrity
If this is the future of documentaries, the genre is certainly dying for me. I agree with all the bad reviews people wrote here but I wanted to check for myself to form an opinion.
If no celebrity were in the documentary, this series would be below average in rating and audience, I think. The ego trip of a celebrity, certainly. There is far better material out there, PBS documentaries, even NatGeo ones! People also name David Attenborough for very good reasons!
These series weren't even educational. I learned very little, I just learned some "TikTok facts" and watch beautiful scenes, coupled with some cliché words of wisdom from Will Smith, and that's it. I'm so disappointed at the level of education we're receiving from documentaries like these. These are no longer documentaries, these are videoblogs to capture audiences!
Welcome to Earth: Speed of Life (2021)
Best episode of series
At some point in the episode, it is said that the underground lake is the one of the biggest in the entire earth, but they don't mention the name, they don't put the name in the screen, they don't show it in a map. All I know is that it's in Namibia.
So, I don't know what I'm supposed to learn with a documentary like this. For example, they show the Uyuni salar but I learned more about the salar reading 30 seconds in a Wikipedia page than what I learned in the documentary episode.
So, it's just stunning visuals, a celebrity and a somewhat vague topic, then voilá, you got yourself a documentary!
So disappointing. It's just good enough to watch but I won't watch it again and I'll probably remember very little about it in a year or two.
Welcome to Earth: Power of Scent (2021)
Still missing information
I'm not sure if I just like to have a lot of information, but I think documentaries nowadays are not that informative. They are just visually astonishing. I know I can look up the information in the internet, but then, what's the point of watching a documentary? This episode, for example, it's about tiger sharks, but they don't give us much information about them, like, what's their diet? How long do they live? How big are they? How do they mate? How do they compare to other sharks? What's the key for photograph them without getting bitten or eaten? Some digital images, maps, renderings, charts, and text could be put in the documentary to convey that information.
How long and big is the great coral reef barrier? Where is it located? What does it mean that smell is the only sense with no filter?
Welcome to Earth: Mind of the Swarm (2021)
Good questions from Will, really poor answers from the science people
3 episodes into the series, I can safely say that Will's narration doesn't improve the episodes in any way whatsoever, not from his non-scientifically background comments, not from his "trying-to-say-funny things". He sometimes makes good questions, but I'm shocked at why "the scientists" don't reply properly some of their good, genuine, insightful questions. They reply in the most simplistic way, saying yes or no, not explaining why.
Another thing these episodes lack is their references. Will shows a picture of a National Geographic magazine and the documentary doesn't reference it!
It would have been cool if they show maps of the area and slow motion shoots, additional explanations as how frequent is that zebras cross the river at the same time and so on.
Welcome to Earth: Descent Into Darkness (2021)
Not as informative as expected
Despite the beautiful photography, I'm not impressed by the series so far. In this episode, they throw some interesting facts here and there, but other than that, this episode was also not that informative. And the narration is sometimes dumbed-down. I don't expect answers to every single question, but it's like the script is written to superficially impress the spectator (ideally a spectator who has only watched a couple of good documentaries in their lives). They don't explain things like: Why are the trips so rare? Are they expensive? Are they difficult to fund? How dangerous are they? How many people have been into space compared to the number of people that have been to the bottom of the ocean? How are they filming the creatures? What kind of technology has been created to improve the filming of these? How many hours did the whole journey take?
Welcome to Earth: The Silent Roar (2021)
What's happening to documentaries lately?
This episode wasn't as informative as I expected. Is this what is going to happen to TikTok's generation of content? Cool shots, some half-baked stories but no real substance? The different parts didn't connect with each other deeply, they just shared the same topic.
For example... What's with the men going inside a mountain? How often do they do that? What for? What have they learned so far? Why that mountain and no other? How is that advancing research? What's the name of the device that records the sounds? When was that device invented? Why is the mountain so silent compared to others? Is that really the most silent place on Earth? My gosh, so many questions and zero answers! Aren't spectators really curious about basic whys and hows?
It feels like all you need to do to create a documentary is a lot of money, be a famous person and have cutting-edge tech equipment! I didn't learn anything that's going to stick in my brain for more than a few days.
Beautiful photography and music, though.
Upgrade (2018)
Predictable with plot holes. Don't get me wrong. It's good, but it insults you
Why? Because Stem could have kill the CEO a lot easier controlling any kind of digital device in the company/house of its owner. Same with the other guys. Also, it was very predictable from the beginning. The events were rushed and clearly it was a job for Gray from the moment the wife was shot and he was "shot" afterwards. From that moment on, a lot of the suspense and the thrilling mystery dissolved.
The action scenes were the highlight and all things considered, specially the budget, the pace, the very few unnecesary scenes, it was a spectacular movie. I don't consider the movie an intelligent script for the reasons above. It was so easy to connect the CEO with the plot and for that reason I felt insulted. Come on!, the movie guides you like a 10 year old to the plot: the strange CEO and its monologue at the beginning, the failure in the car, the accident, the typical detective, the obvious movement of his arm when she visits Gray and his mother to hear the conversation, the cliché appearance of the detective at the climax of the movie and the convenient call trace of Fisk before that.
Or I just didn't understand the movie and I'm underrating it.
Extreme Drug Smuggling (2011)
Shocking
This documentary is both informative and interesting. I learned a lot about drug smuggling. The methods drug cartels use now are surprising. They are very inventive, resourceful and ingenious. Although the tone is quite biased toward the drug war, I enjoy the documentary in all its length.
This show demonstrates all the extremes taken by drug cartels to get their product on market, destroying millions of lives in the process. These methods are very unconventional and creative, and I think these people would be excellent businessmen in the legal market.
Finally, do not expect too much. This documentary is very general and won't go into details. It only shows the methods used by drug cartels in a superficial, quick way.