Cert – Recommended age 14+, Run-time – 1 hour 34 minutes, Director – Andrew Stanton
Separated by thousands of years, the lives of a Neanderthal family, modern-day couple and future astronaut face love, struggle and interconnected events.
Andrew Stanton’s past sci-fi efforts, WALL-E for animation home Pixar and live-action debut John Carter, have been made to be seen on the big screen. Returning to live-action and the genre with In The Blink Of An Eye, written by Colby Day as opposed to Stanton with co-writers as has been the case with past ventures in the genre, this is a much more scaled down affair that seems to almost be made for streaming. It’s definitely been treated as such, being quietly dropped on Disney+ and Hulu with no real advertising, or mention on the front page.
Yet, while much quieter it continues to show the director’s love for the genre and the forms that it can take. Instead of a grand action spectacle In The Blink Of An Eye wants to get across the idea that, as Ferris Bueller would remind us, life moves pretty fast. Whether for a Neanderthal family, a modern-day couple (likably performed by Rashida Jones and Daveed Diggs, even if they don’t quite get the space for us to fully admire their likability) and a future astronaut (Kate McKinnon in a welcome turn away from her often exaggerated comedic persona). Separated by thousands of years their stories intertwine as they explore love, hope, the future and the general nature of being human and living life.
2001 is a clear touchstone for Day and Stanton, and there appears to be a bit of Silent Running here, too. Smart sci-fi is what it appears things boil down to, although the film doesn’t quite reach the heart it wants in the relationships depicted. Particularly when following the prehistoric characters, communicating in their early-age grunts and babble, you can see what the film is going for but not quite feel it; especially in this strand which doesn’t have its full commitment and appears to be seen more as a ‘nice idea.’
Throughout the narrative stages take a familiar form of ‘life and love are nice, aren’t they?’ It’s present in each section, even if McKinnon gets a sort of survival element as her character tries to fulfil a mission to get humanity to its next stage which she sells in tune with the PG-13 mainstream lightness of things. Perhaps none more so than that of Jones and Diggs’ whistle-stop romance.
The three stories don’t quite grate with each other or clash, and generally play out well enough for just over 90-minutes, but while largely watchable there’s not exactly anything overly investing, especially with one stand being weaker than the other two which largely stand as fine enough. It all makes for something that’s likely to prove (if it hasn’t already) quickly forgettable. A shame for a film that wants to strike the emotional chord it does, but can’t even find itself becoming sappy in its depictions. A shame as Stanton so clearly loves sci-fi and what it can do, but has made a very upfront piece of streaming fluff.
Andrew Stanton clearly loves sci-fi, but can’t make In The Blink Of An Eye feel anything more than overtly mainstream streaming fluff. While watchable it’s never properly investing with a light and forgettable wander through its familiar ideas, not all of which have full commitment.
Just A Little Bit Random 