Adam McKay’s new movie “Don’t Look Up” has a lot of layers to study. We break down the climax and the movie’s real purpose. Read more to find out more about this satirical science-fiction comedy.
Warning: This post includes spoilers for “Don’t Look Up”. Netflix’s much-awaited celebrity-studded satirical movie “Don’t Look Up” has finally landed, and it certainly takes us on an emotional ride.
The film, driven by writer and director Adam McKay, who is best known for movies like “The Big Short”, “Vice”, and “Step Brothers” starts out hilarious, with prominent celebrities exchanging one-liners amidst an approaching apocalypse but slowly emerges as a plot that makes you think.
Adam McKay’s movie “Don’t Look Up” has many fascinating layers to explore. The movie gives us an incredible picture of humanity at the instant, something that would have appeared utterly absurd two years ago but is now accurate and distressing in light of the world’s current circumstances. The movie fits as a clear mirror of our time in mortal existence.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, and many well-known faces, “Don’t Look Up” doesn’t waste any time in getting started.
Don’t Look Up Ending Explained (Image Credit: Netflix)Don’t Look Up Plot: What is it About?
“Don’t Look Up” starts with Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy grad student at Michigan State University, who discovers a comet the size of a gigantic mountain is headed directly for Earth from the boundaries of the galaxy, who immediately informs her astronomy professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio).
Her professor then calculates that the trajectory of the asteroid intersects that of Earth and that an extinction-level collision will take place in about six months and 14 days, eradicating all life in the process.
The duo, alongside fellow scientist Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), takes their findings to the White House but are met with indifference from President Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her Chief of Staff Jason Orlean (Jonah Hill), who is also her self-absorbed son.
“The timing, it’s just atrocious, I say, we sit tight and assess,” the President tells them while stating that she’ll have her own people from an Ivy League school to assess.
Nevertheless, it isn’t very long after they disclose this pertinent information to the public that they realize no one seems curious or concerned about the world’s impending destruction.
It would all be ridiculous if it didn’t feel so close to reality. The only thing that should matter to everyone on the planet is finding a way to avoid the destruction of all life, but it gets surged out by-election season and, later, a celebrity breakup.
The news is finally circulated by the media, and the launch of a spaceship that can strike and divert the comet, saving the planet, is declared.
However, the operation is cancelled mid-flight when Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance), a tech billionaire and well-known funder of President Janie Orlean, discovers that the comet is composed of trillions of dollars worth of treasured minerals that have become inadequate on Earth.
The White House then plans to commercially manipulate the comet by crushing it to decrease its size and recovering the fragments.
The world then becomes ideologically diverged among those who demand the demolition of the comet, those who criticize unjustified alarmism, and those who refuse that a comet even exists.
Meanwhile, Kate returns home to Michigan and starts a relationship with a boy named Yule (Timothée Chalamet). Randall starts having an affair with talk show host Brie Evantee (Cate Blanchett).
Don’t Look Up Ending Explained: Does the comet hit the Earth in “Don’t Look Up”?
The intent to recover the comet’s materials fails, leaving them, along with a group of rich Americans, to escape in a spaceship designed to find the nearest inhabitable planet.
However, they leave Jason behind in the process. Before fleeing, Orlean offers Randall a place on the ship, but he turns her down, desiring to spend his last moments in the company of Kate, his family, Yule, and Teddy.
The comet strikes during the dinner as Earth is destroyed, while the presidential ship departs the planet just in time in search of humanity’s new abode.
The comet ultimately hits the Earth and eradicates everyone.
Don’t Look Up Ending Explained (Image Credit: Netflix)“Don’t Look Up” mid-credits scene explained
The Presidential ship with all the members, manages to get away from Earth, fleeing to another planet. But during the mid-credits scene of “Don’t Look Up”, we see that they can’t protect themselves.
The group revives from their sleep but before they can truly relish their new existence, a huge weird creature attacks President Orlean. As more of the creatures emerge, it’s presumed they’re all killed by these weird creatures.
“Don’t Look Up” post-credits scene explained
Right before the movie is actually over, we get one last scene. In the debris from the comet hitting Earth, Jason (Jonah Hill) emerges, yelling for his mom, wondering if his mother is still coming back, and records the aftermath on his phone.
Of course, with everyone else on Earth probably dead, no one will ever see his video. “Don’t Look Up” is streaming now on Netflix; you can stream it from there.