@curtwagner1984
I disagree with your last point. I think we clearly see how Todd is destroyed by it at several times. Other times it is indeed intended as comic relief, however.
@curtwagner1984 I think this review covers it well. I too thought it was interesting concept, so i felt disappointed when the only original part in the movie was not explored. Same with the native aliens. I was highly interested to see how their society functioned, but except for that one encounter they are never seen or heard of. Besides this, the whole movie is fairly bland and straightforward (although still decent enough to watch once.)
Review by Curt WagnerBlockedParent2021-04-20T17:56:23Z
I must say, the movie has a really good idea that's worth exploring. Sadly it never comes close to exploring said idea. It ends up being a generic Hollywood action movie and nothing more.
It's interesting to see how a society would function if part of the population's(The men's) thoughts were visible to everyone. There are interesting aspects to explore here about privacy. But the movie throws this concept under the bus and uses it just as a cheap gimmick.
Before the events in the movie, it's said that men and women lived together in Tom Holland's settlement. And then men became more and more suspicious of the women because they could not see their thoughts. This gradually drove the men to kill all the women. This is the movie I wanted to see. How did this happen? What were the internal struggles in the settlement? How did reading each other's thoughts affect the people? Instead, we are put after all of this and we follow the standard bad guy wants to kill girl, hero who has confidence issues saves girl from the bad guy and becomes self-realized in the process.
The thought-reading phenomenon was mostly used as a comic relief instead of being the center of a thought-provoking story. I'm kind of bummed out that this was the case. It would have been interesting to see how a society functions when everyone's thoughts are in the open. For instance, how courts work, how is trade done, etc.