Review of Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) by Jluis_001 — 28 Mar 2022

Some critics say the art of cinema is saturated with superheroes and stories that don't bring anything useful to the audience. That they don't challenge them, and they're not inventive enough. But when they break out of the mould, they dismiss them as too ambitious and complicated for those same audiences.

So what the hell are we doing? Or are they telling the crowd they're too dumb?

And I comment on this because one of the many things I've heard about this film is that it would be too much for the average audience, but that's not the case at all.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is perhaps a film that pushes its concept a bit too far, but that doesn't make it any less appealing. Because as far as I could tell, once its plot explodes, the chaos of everything it presents is the cornerstone of the story, and therefore you must embrace that chaos.

The irony of it all is that in the end it's actually a pretty ordinary story.

Yes, of course, it is still an emotional, philosophical and profound journey through a complex narrative device such as the multiverse, but the underlying idea is still a story in which its protagonist must confront and question everything about her life. From her family to the decisions and failures that have brought her to the point where she finds herself when it all begins.

Perhaps the teaching addressed in its conclusion is nothing earth-shattering, but the journey to reach it was thoroughly entertaining, chaotic and exhilarating, and that was something really, really good.

And above all, what a great performance by Michelle Yeoh. She is the absolute captain of this film. Her co-stars do a great job too, but this is her show.