Review of Encounters at the End of the World (2007) by Jonny 9 — 25 Dec 2009
Veteran (IMDB credits him as director on 56 movies) filmmaker Werner Herzog travels to Antarctica where he finds weird wildlife and even weirder human life eking out an existence in the planet’s least inviting environment.
I watched the movie with the director’s commentary on so I’m unclear on what was in the theatrical release but if Herzog’s snarky, smug, dismissal of his subjects as weirdoes in a thick Munich accent wasn’t part of the original you were shortchanged.
Yes, the cinematography is a amazing, the creatures residing under ice so thick explosives are needed to get to them are truly alien and the frozen icescapes are a visual feast. However, the movie is most compelling when Herzog trains the camera on the not-quite-right scientists and drifters who work on the continent and then talks about their various personality disturbances and tiresome delivery over their monologues.
Apparently the Antarctic penguins are nuts as well.
This review of Encounters at the End of the World (2007) was written by Jonny 9 on 25 Dec 2009.
Encounters at the End of the World has generally received very positive reviews.
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