This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
A History That Repeateth Itself
Plot Overview
The French
have a saying, “The more things change, the more they remain
the same” (Plus
ça change, plus c'est la même chose.) An astronaut
named Mills (Adam Driver) who dotes on his ailing daughter Nevine
(Chloe Coleman) accepts an “explorer” job requiring him
to be absent from home for two years, but he'll earn thrice his normal
wage, which will cover Nevine's needed operation. They live
65 million years ago on the planet Somaris.
An uncharted asteroid cluster grazes his spaceship in transit causing the AI auto-pilot to wake him out of stasis for manual control. He crash lands on—wouldn't you know it—prehistoric Earth killing his thirty-some cryogenically suspended passengers, with one missing. Stepping outside he's surprised to find the air breathable and his lone survivor nine-year-old Koa (Ariana greenblatt) running from him.
His wife (Nika King) on Somaris much resembles
a Mexican beauty. Their men often leave for transient work north of
the border. He's officially an explorer but is in fact the sole driver
of a private transport engaged in human [?] trafficking, which
explains his lucrative reward & the wetback response of the
lone survivor. The latter finds herself in a wilderland
speaking a foreign tongue (English) where she's processed as a minor to be
sent to putative family at the escape module's separate landing site some
15 km off—but they're all dead
there. She and the pilot must traverse the Cretaceous forest, dodging
dangerous dinosaurs, before the daddy asteroid arrives in twelve hours to
destroy the Earth's fauna with instant (wintry) climate change.
On the way they employ affirmative action to help pull a struggling dino from a tar pit. Koa was such a softie she insisted, albeit intervention in the natural order was beyond Mills's remit, to say nothing of the prime directive or of preserving source material for a future Jurassic Park. I'd say it's best to be on the side of history and leave the tarred creature to its fate. Whatever.
Ideology
Things were looking bad for Mills when he found himself all by his lonesome
on one inhospitable planet. As Swedish author Henning Mankell puts it:
That is about as close as one can get to the greatest loneliness of all
… Being all alone in the world. The final human being, forgotten
about
(144). Things started looking up once he discovered Koa, this
according to, (Eccl. 4:9) “Two are
better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.”
The mission won't have been a complete loss, because they can report on
what the Earth was like before its devastation, the girl can carry on her
family's line, and Mills will have avoided the stigma of having lost all hands.
(Eccl. 4:10) “For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.” They've got each other's back through multiple dangers. Separated they're toast.
(Eccl. 4:11) “Again, if two lie together, then
they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?” By the electric
campfire they amuse themselves playing a duet with hand whistles.
They can play off each other's riffs, which one can't do solo.
(Eccl. 4:12)
“And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him;
and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” When Mills
is about to get et by a tyrannosaurus, count on Koa to help slay
the beast. Fact is one of these giants can prove useful to them as
they bait it to right the ship.
Production Values
“” (2023) was written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. It stars Adam Driver and Ariana Greenblatt. Driver did an expected great portrayal of the Robinson Crusoe character. Greenblatt pulled her (light) weight as well. The casting was perfect.
MPAA rated it PG–13 for intense sci-fi action and peril, and brief bloody images. The soundtrack by Chris Bacon and Danny Elfman was remarkable. The camera work was great with various wide shots of the landscapes. The CGI worked reasonably well with the dinosaurs & the meteor effects. Runtime is 1½ hours.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
How do they come up with this stuff! It ain't a classic by any means but it keeps hitting us from every direction. The technology just floats along in the background but is well engineered and user friendly. The characters arouse our sympathy. It's a romp in an ancient world before the curtain comes down on it. Here's a film that succeeds without any sex. Okay.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action-packed. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: Don't watch this movie alone. Overall movie rating: Three and a half stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture was quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Mankell, Henning. The Man Who Smiled. Copyright © 1994 by Henning Mankell. English translation copyright © 2005 by Laurie Thompson. New York: The New Press, 2006. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org