Review of The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) by Randy T — 12 Jan 2009

When I started watching this I imagined it would be one of those funny old movies with terrible special effects and even worse acting, and a nice, satisfactory ending, a style pretty typical in 50s 'sci-fi' B movies.

It turned out to be a thought-provoking film that unrelentingly follows the plot-curve set up in the first 15 minutes - Scott's constant shrinking and how he, and others, deal with it. Maybe I'm being harsh in my three stars, because I didn't get the satisfactory ending I was expecting, but although the little monologue attempts some theological reasoning, I didn't really accept it because if I had been in Scott's position, I don't think I would've come up with the same, rather pessimistic, view.

I guess contextual stuff like post-world war 2 and the nuclear threat 'informs our viewing'...still wouldn't see it again.