Review of The Discovery (2017) by Victor T — 20 May 2017

In recent years Netflix has become a production company that has crafted some of the most acclaimed series of its time ("House of Cards", "Orange is the New Black" and "Stranger Things") but now they are trying to produce and distribute feature films. After his limited released directorial debut, Malcom McDowell´s son, newcomer director Charlie McDowell, was given the change to craft a more ambitious and overall bigger project. Is this a good follow up by McDowell and screenwriter Justin Lader?

Thomas Harbor is a scientist that has changed the world due to his discovery: He scientifically proved the existence of the afterlife. This information has provoked massive suicides around the globe but regardless Thomas is now obsessed with showing the world what's waiting for us in the afterlife.

After being impressed with McDowell´s directorial debut "The One I Love", I was looking forward to watching his next film, and after I learned that I would have Rooney Mara and Robert Redford I was excited, but sadly the end result was quite the disappointment. "The Discovery" counts with solid acting by Mara and Redford, and its story is full of possibilities and moral dilemmas. Sadly this film is filled with problems that completely outshine its promising premise. Jason Segel shows that he can't work as a dramatic actor, the pacing is off, the character motivations are nonexistent (outside of Redford´s character), as the story progresses it becomes more and more predictable and cliché, the characters aren't interesting, and the finale is quite obvious but as you start to deduce it you also start wishing that you are mistaken, as it doesn't make sense and makes the whole moral dilemma rather pointless. Sure, "The One I Loved" also suffered from an ending that didn't make sense but the themes were untouched and the story remained interesting until the end credits, but here the premise loses all power at the 20 minute mark and the ending not only destroys the theme but it also becomes unintentionally laughable.

"The Discovery" is quite a step down from the promising yet flawed "The One I Loved". While it starts with promise, the unexperienced/overambitious direction and its script issues completely break the movie apart. For a movie about the afterlife, it is kind of appropriate that it is quite lifeless.