After initially being excited for another Anthony Mackie film being released to Netflix, I ended up putting IO on the back burner. The poor reviews didn’t help encourage me but as my well of films has run dry it was time.

Elevator Review

It’s an isolation movie and isolation movies are a great way to dive deep into a character and make the audience live and die with their every move. IO did not do that and by the end I really didn’t care what happened to either of our two characters. The “twists” were obvious and held no weight. I don’t know what I was supposed to get from it.

The Story

The story opens with Sam (Margaret Qualley) living on Earth and doing research about plant and insect life. The Earth had to be abandoned as it slowly became more and more unlivable so she is one of the few remaining on the planet. There are radio transmissions she’s receiving that provide more context for the situation but we learn more about the people on the transmissions than we do about Sam.

Even when Micah (Anthony Mackie) shows up, he’s looking for her father and not her. He’s dismissive of her initially before (randomly) softening and quoting Plato to her. He becomes fascinated with the work that she and her father have done as well. Eventually he uncovers a lie that she told him but doesn’t react extremely negatively after figuring it out. In fact, when she randomly (not so randomly for us but randomly to him) decides to come onto him, he barely resists. All it took was for her to say “we have to” for him to be on board. I added the clip above and I promise it is as bad with context as it appears without it.

Anyway, after they get close and it’s time for them to leave Earth she has a decision to make and it still really didn’t make a ton of sense. Even if it had I didn’t care if she stayed or left.

Overall

I have to say that I kind of see what they were trying to do here but they did not accomplish it at all. The reviews are justified and the only good thing I have to say is that I have nowhere to go from here but up with my viewing experiences. Skip this one.