A kid had to face the world in his own animated version and conquer life's biggest monster. ANI (The Harvest) It's as if a child's imagination is a safe haven, a place where the world is a playground for all the possibilities the mind could think of. And even the tight and humble space called home, situated on a busy Metro could not hinder the inquisitive headspace of a young Mithi (played by Zyren Dela Cruz), a boy who accomplishes the day by playing with his colorful toy robots that perform a vital role in his imaginary narrative. With a loving father and a mother that sings him a self-assuring lullaby, Mithi is blissfully unaware of the harsh reality. But life decided to toy with his fate, and Mithi's perfect little world is now showing its cracks, putting his vulnerability to the test and slowly depriving him of his happiness he thought would last forever. And through his eyes, the world suddenly transforms itself into a menacing monster. Set in a lush
"IO" Review - Netflix's Dystopian Thriller Is As Empty As Its Version of Earth
When Earth became completely inhabitable, humanity was forced to flee outside the planet in an attempt to find a new haven. One person, however, decided to stay and start a life anew.
During my 96 minutes of watching the film, I can't erase the fact that it feels like a distant prequel to Disney's WALL-E back in 2008 — well, a bland prequel to be exact. Obviously, this isn't what award winning director Jonathan Helpert and writers Clay Jeter, Charles Spano and Will Basanta had in mind during their storyboard meeting.
IO was set on a dystopian Earth after it became inhabitable, largely due to high amounts of sulfur-ammonia, which leads to incapability of sustaining human and animal life and other food resources as it once did. Sam (Margaret Qualley), a young research assistant of a renowned scientist Dr. Henry Walden, resided to the mountains, where the atmosphere was still bearable mainly due to its high altitude, and was in contact with a friend who was already at the IO ship outside Earth, giving daily reports about her research to examine if there's still any speck of hope left for the planet.
Later, Sam met Micah (Anthony Mackie), who descended from a hot air balloon and was on a mission to find Dr. Walden. Micah was promised a better living if he stayed on Earth but was struck by disappointments, realizing that the idea of surviving on land was as bleak and gloomy as the dark skies.
The Good
Going forward, I didn't know what to expect for the film. Sure, the premise was interesting but what kept me watching was the anticipation of a love affair from the two actors. Margaret Qualley brought an emotional depth to the already dreadful situation. Her performance was quite good and the motivations her character had was believable and compelling. Anthony Mackie on the other hand, which most of us knew him as The Falcon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, brought a grounded and a more serious performance, opposite to his character in real life. Both were a delight to watch on screen and the sexual tension between them were the highlight of the entire film. I was gasping for anticipation as I watch their relationship grew amidst the dilemma at hand.
The cinematography was gorgeous. There were moments of visual excitement and enchantment while I was watching it. I thought the movie perfectly encapsulates an ideal depiction of a post-apocalyptic, dystopian Earth — from its murky, washed out atmosphere to its beautiful, self-groomed plantation crawling out of the abandoned edifices, which added to the overall dreary tone of the film. The Bad
Story wise, there isn't much anything new or innovative this film has to offer. The first half of the film, while mostly focused on setting up the motivation of its main character, didn't quite came off as interesting as it probably was. I thought there was too much set up to a point that it became dragging and uninspired. When Mackie came into picture, I had hopes that I'm in for a treat but nay, the movie still struggled to get its plot hit a solid destination, losing its traction going forward.
The film also lacked any thrilling or heart-pounding sequences, which is weird for a survival story and I was quite bored throughout as a result. Also, I would've hoped the film would show the surviving humans from the outer space, but I guess that's beyond the reach of the production's budget limitations. That ending was one of the most anticlimactic endings that I have seen in recent memory and that alone says a lot about what I generally felt about the movie — dissapointed.
Should You Watch It?
IO takes you into a post-cataclysmic adventure that failed to took off and was dragged instead by a heavy smoke of narrative emptiness. As one of the many Netflix originals to come out in 2019, this adventure sure was an apocalyptic nightmare.
Comments
Post a Comment