My daughter wanted to see this movie, and needless to say, I was pretty unenthused. Our track record at the cinema in 2017 has been dismal. Time and time again, every big-budget, star-packed, hyper-promoted Hollywood offering has left me wishing I stayed home to watch Netflix. When I saw the running time of 2:15, I was extremely reluctant to endure this movie.
But, approximately halfway through the movie, something mysterious and unexpected happened. The sensation was so foreign I scarcely comprehended what was happening.
I was enjoying the movie!
Although "Downsizing" isn't exactly the most creative premise ever devised, the first half of the movie worked beautifully. I think a lot of filmgoers were disappointed to discover this movie is NOT akin to an amusement park 4D movie, where you are shown what it would be like to be smaller than a dandelion or bird. This is social commentary about economics and the human race.
As such, I loved where this movie was going: Even in a society of staggering plenty, where an average Joe can afford a 10,000 sq. ft. mansion, nothing much is different. There is still divorce, alienation, obnoxious wealth, drugs, and an invisible, impoverished, foreign underclass that toils and suffers in the shadows. Brilliant.
But then, inevitably, the iron law of Hollywood kicked in: IN THE YEAR 2017, ALL MOVIES HAVE TO SUCK. Of course. It's not fair, but it's the law.
So, ultimately, it came as little surprise that the last 1/3 of the movie was a crap-fest about global warming, or something, and the world is ending because of methane, or something, but is it ending tomorrow or in two centuries, we don't know because we're not really told, and all the holier-than-thou environmentalists and scientists are going to go live in their hole-in-the-ground so humanity can survive, and yada yada yada. It was like a completely different movie, and it RUINED A PERFECTLY GOOD FILM.
But in the end, all that matters is the movie fully and totally complied with the iron law of Hollywood. All movies have to suck, and they have to be a complete pile of left-wing, political jibberish. Well done folks.
But, approximately halfway through the movie, something mysterious and unexpected happened. The sensation was so foreign I scarcely comprehended what was happening.
I was enjoying the movie!
Although "Downsizing" isn't exactly the most creative premise ever devised, the first half of the movie worked beautifully. I think a lot of filmgoers were disappointed to discover this movie is NOT akin to an amusement park 4D movie, where you are shown what it would be like to be smaller than a dandelion or bird. This is social commentary about economics and the human race.
As such, I loved where this movie was going: Even in a society of staggering plenty, where an average Joe can afford a 10,000 sq. ft. mansion, nothing much is different. There is still divorce, alienation, obnoxious wealth, drugs, and an invisible, impoverished, foreign underclass that toils and suffers in the shadows. Brilliant.
But then, inevitably, the iron law of Hollywood kicked in: IN THE YEAR 2017, ALL MOVIES HAVE TO SUCK. Of course. It's not fair, but it's the law.
So, ultimately, it came as little surprise that the last 1/3 of the movie was a crap-fest about global warming, or something, and the world is ending because of methane, or something, but is it ending tomorrow or in two centuries, we don't know because we're not really told, and all the holier-than-thou environmentalists and scientists are going to go live in their hole-in-the-ground so humanity can survive, and yada yada yada. It was like a completely different movie, and it RUINED A PERFECTLY GOOD FILM.
But in the end, all that matters is the movie fully and totally complied with the iron law of Hollywood. All movies have to suck, and they have to be a complete pile of left-wing, political jibberish. Well done folks.