Io takes place on Earth after pretty much everyone has already left. Sam (Margaret Qualley, The Leftovers) lives in one of few survivable places on the planet, continuing her father's research into the poisonous atmosphere. She tells everyone on Io Station, where everyone has flown to, that she still assists her father, when in truth he has died. Micah (Anthony Mackie, The Avengers: Infinity War) appears in a makeshift dirigible seeking to reach the last remaining space shuttle, and due to complications has to land at Sam's home. He tries to convince her to leave, she rails against it focused on how important her research is, in that the planet will recover and someone has to be here to prove that.
The movie is not really about the exodus or the apocalyptic planet they live on, but more about isolation and obligation. The commentary on what we are doing to the planet is expectedly heavy handed but the movie has a dreamy, hazy look and feel that matches the smoke & haze of the poisons all around them. In another time, produced by another source, we would not have dealt at all with the outside, having kept the moody movie indoors and only referenced what it was like outside. But Netflix definitely wants their atmospheric (pun intended) scifi flicks to capture a certain audience. The movie is thus only mostly satisfying, not really committing itself to the adventure nor the message.
No comments:
Post a Comment