MaryAlice Holmes

Whatever satire might have been originally part of this show seems to have been edited out. Mostly, what exists are a bunch of narcissistic, arrogant, selfish white tourists who utterly destroy everything they touch. The POC in this cast are particularly singled out for destruction. So many reviews of this series rave about the biting wit and the social satire but only a few scenes involve any humor and whatever passes for satire lately eluded this viewer. Two Stars because while the series itself is filled with atrocious characters, the location is gorgeous. (The hotel itself is rather creepy in a “The Shining” kind of way.)

Somebody decided Ruben Ostlund was a genius. Consequently, nobody felt comfortable telling him when his story was overly long and…didn’t really tell a good story. As others have stated, the Captain’s Dinner sequence is, by turns, grotesque and hilarious. And about ten minutes too long. The captain (Woody Harrelson, completely underutilized) and the Russian Oligarch debating Marxist theory over the ship’s intercom is also mildly amusing. But. To call this mess a comedy is grossly (pardon the pun) overselling this sad excuse for class and race theory. It is overly long. At 2.5 hours, I felt cheated. The couple featured in the first act argue over a check at a restaurant for an interminable period of time. This scene is too long and overindulged to add anything to the story that follows. A good director and producer would’ve cut it at least in half. Less is more, Baby. After the notorious ship’s dinner, when pirates abounds, and the ship is wrecked, several crew and guests are washed up on a tropical island. Weeks go by before anyone of them think to wander around the island or build a shelter or learn to catch fish. Seriously? I would expect that of the oligarch but the rest of them seemed like they might’ve come from less opulent means and might’ve known a few survival techniques. Heck, even I know a few things just from watching three or four episodes of “Survivor.” What I’m trying to say is that this story is so sloppily told that I could not willfully suspend my disbelief. I know the point was to make some diatribe about wealth and greed but, ultimately, it just made everyone look bad. Why it was nominated for Best Picture is just one of those mysteries of the Academy. Nobody wanted to admit that they thought it was garbage because, well, it slams rich people so… Btw. The costumes, set design, tropical island setting? These were all brilliant. The performances were very good, too. It was only the film itself that was a mess.

Everything that everyone else has complained about (crewdisgruntlement, one engineer, poor eyesight, cliched storylines, no communication delays until they are halfway to Mars) is absolutely true. Still, I like these characters and I want to see what happens. However, my willful suspension of disbelief was sorely tested with the episode I watched last night. Does this show really expect us to believe that segregated plant growing system would use so much water that it would endanger the crew? Oh, please. It would be self contained, hermetically sealed and would require next to no additional water. Such a ridiculous plotline. Especially if the whole point was to have mature plants to be able to transplant once they arrive on Mars. Yeah, as someone else said, It’s like The Martian Goes to Knots Landing.