The Wild Blue Yonder

Title: The Wild Blue Yonder
Rating: 2.5/5
Genre: “Documentary,” Sci-Fi, Drama
Starring: Brad Dourif
Director: Werner Herzog

I'd be lying if I said I had anything but big expectations from this. Herzog is hardly a newcomer to film and his work is often nothing if not creative, and with what sounds almost like a spiritual sequel to the superb 'Man From Earth' I was hoping it would re-create a little of that magic, but this isn't a film that readily compares itself to Jerome Bixby's vision. In fact it doesn't really compare to much else at all, except perhaps the unusual 'Koyaanisqatsi' (a silent film devoted to scenes of the natural world, using camera footage alone to make his point) as for most of the film we are given no narration or dialogue to wrestle with, only simplistic footage compiled from a variety of sources in order to further his story.

Following the sordid tale of one alien who long since arrived on this planet from the Andromeda galaxy, his ancestors sought to flee his planet, the Wild Blue Yonder, when its star began to die and give way to a permanent ice age. Angry that his innate knowledge of interstellar travel and the trials and tribulations of creating a colony far from home is never used, he unwinds and reveals his tale of how Earth sought to travel back to his homeworld – the same one that they abandoned millennia ago – and colonise it for their own purposes. The whole plot whilst remaining somewhat plausible, is only so because of how vague each aspect feels, offering only the most basic and simplistic explanation of his emotions, constantly echoing lines like “and that made me sad.”

This wasn't my only problem with the dialogue either, for whilst words came few and far between when they did arrive it gave rise to further questions that would require an answer for me to be satisfied; plot holes such as how a planet that was abandoned millennia ago could still be considered 'home;' how can someone become homesick for a planet they had never lived on, visited, and perhaps ever even seen? This patchwork quilt of a film felt as much an excuse for Herzog to get some pretty footage out into the world as it does a coherent story, and this footage frequently finds itself left on display for far too long, over emphasising any point he might have had until its true purpose becomes forgotten, leaving us with little more than the remarkably similar music playing in the background. It all eventually becomes rather grating, providing an excellent test of my patience. There's no question that its unique in its idea, clever in its execution and with all the use of outside footage remarkably cheap to have created, but none of this makes it a particularly good film.