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The Wild Blue Yonder

Play trailer Poster for The Wild Blue Yonder 2005 1h 22m Sci-Fi Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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69% Tomatometer 35 Reviews 56% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
The film follows a hypothetical proposition: a group of astronauts are circling the earth in a spacecraft, but they cannot return, as our planet has become uninhabitable. The cause of this remains open; all-out war, outbreak of a new disease beyond control, radiation after the complete disappearance of the ozone layer, or whatever. The crew of the spacecraft has to find a more hospitable place out there in space, and releases a probe from their cargo bay, Galileo. But Galileo -- after sending back very disquieting data -- has to be sent on a suicide mission.
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The Wild Blue Yonder

The Wild Blue Yonder

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Critics Consensus

An intriguing blend of low budget and high concept, The Wild Blue Yonder brings Werner Herzog's distinctive sensibilities entertainingly to bear on the sci-fi milieu.

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Critics Reviews

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Anthony Quinn Independent (UK) 06/15/2007
2/5
Herzog remains a one-off in German cinema - eccentric, infuriating, cherishable - and nothing in this will detract from his legend. Go to Full Review
Derek Malcolm London Evening Standard 06/15/2007
3/5
An unlikely combination, but then Herzog never ceases to surprise and here, despite some dull patches, does so with an off-centre film of an almost dreamlike quality. Go to Full Review
Phelim O'Neill Guardian 06/15/2007
3/5
This is just further proof that Herzog can make a film about anything, and indeed, from anything. Go to Full Review
Fernando F. Croce CinePassion 08/28/2009
Raw materials are mingled with staged performance, context is scrambled, all of it is transformative Go to Full Review
Jennie Kermode Eye for Film 12/07/2007
4.5/5
Rob Humanick Projection Booth 07/03/2007
A
Herzog's use of cinema defies the very fabric of our known world. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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William H 12/03/2023 Much better episode than the week before. Still had a dumb beginning but once if got going it was a great story, quite creepy in places, and good performances from Tennant and Tate. Also made a change from the usual earthbound stories that RTD seems to revel in. See more Ęxçëşș M @ExcessMale 11/15/2023 Bizarre and a bit tepid but also fascinating and cosmically profound. See more 10/03/2017 Herzog's pessimistic, bewildering observation of humanity at its climax is more-so a mood piece than an entertainment. It creates an environment with minimalist technique. See more 04/13/2015 Bold and hypnotic. Hertzog blends real footage of a NASA shuttle mission, exploration underneath the ice shelf in Antarctica, and mathematicians explaining the gravity tunnels between planets and weaves a fictional narrative around it all with Brad Dourif playing an alien from Alpha Centari. The music is incredibly alien and often nearly overpowers the imagery onscreen, which says something as some of the footage is pretty incredible. The underwater sequences is repeated in Hertzog's later documentary about the Antarctica, Encounters at the End of the World, but here is used convincingly as an alien landscape. Its just amazing to see how well he weaves footage of things as mundane as a satellite being built and astronauts exercising on the shuttle into a movie about a mission to another planet. Its really quite inventive. See more 11/16/2012 Un capolavoro. Il più grande finto documentario che abbia mai visto. Il più originale film di fantascienza che abbia mai visto. Uno dei montaggi più geniali che abbia mai visto. Le immagini più belle della Terra che abbia mai visto...come se fosse un altro splendido pianeta... Geniale anche la scelta delle musiche sarde. Werner Herzog è uno dei registi più sottovalutati come questo film. Ma in realtà dietro tutto vi è genio e follia visionaria. See more 09/25/2012 Werner Herzog takes found footage from Nasa (space shuttle voyages as shot by astronauts) and Antarctica (underwater shots from Henry Kaiser) and fashions a story of sorts around it. Brad Dourif plays an alien (without changing how he looks) who has left the Andromeda galaxy to start another colony on Earth but also discusses our own attempts to investigate the solar system and beyond. Some beautiful imagery floats by but the whole is somewhat less than the sum of its parts. See more Read all reviews
The Wild Blue Yonder

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Movie Info

Synopsis The film follows a hypothetical proposition: a group of astronauts are circling the earth in a spacecraft, but they cannot return, as our planet has become uninhabitable. The cause of this remains open; all-out war, outbreak of a new disease beyond control, radiation after the complete disappearance of the ozone layer, or whatever. The crew of the spacecraft has to find a more hospitable place out there in space, and releases a probe from their cargo bay, Galileo. But Galileo -- after sending back very disquieting data -- has to be sent on a suicide mission.
Director
Werner Herzog
Producer
André Singer
Screenwriter
Werner Herzog
Production Co
WestPark Productions, Werner Herzog Filmproduktion
Genre
Sci-Fi, Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 9, 2021
Runtime
1h 22m
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