The Man From Earth – Reviewed
I just got finished watching a movie on Netflix called “The Man From Earth”. It was so good I thought I’d write a review. Perhaps it was so good because I had just finished watching The Men Who Stare at Goats, which was not so good, but either way here’s the review.
There’s no real spoilers possible here. The movie description on Netflix summed up everything about the movie. A man that was born 14,000 years ago spills his secret to a room full of colleagues. Well, there is one little spoiler and i’ll share it later on with a warning, but mostly the movie was just what the description said. The idea is at once so simple but so very intricate and filled with imagination that the movie doesn’t need any other plot twist or major surprises. It is a very solid and real look at what a man would be look that had lived for so very long by just some quark of evolution wherein he didn’t age.
On to the review.
First, the basics. The cast is really good. These are not D list actors in some cheesy syfy movie but real class actors that we’ve all seen in many movies. They have one ex star trek alumn John Billingsley, the Greatest American Hero himself William Katt, and the Candyman as well as staring in many Star Trek episodes (various series), Tony Todd. The rest of the cast is solid as well with all characters having a very long history on the screen, most in TV.
The movie jumps right to it and puts the cast in the house of a member of the university facility that is quitting and moving on. Not long into the movie he begins to tell them, for the first time to anyone, that he is very old and has some quark that he lives forever, or at least hasn’t died yet.
The interplay between the characters is where the movie really shines. The story is very well thought out and well reasoned. Someone of that age, 14,000 years, wouldn’t know every inch of history, he would only know those inches that he was part of. It’s not like Highlander where McCloud had a room full of ancient items that he somehow managed to lug around with him throughout several centuries. Rather it’s like how it might really be, just a guy moving on a lot, so people wouldn’t notice he didn’t age.
The movie climaxes with the lead character revealing he was a famous person in history and his contemporaries becoming upset with them. Which is one reason why the movie is so good. I found myself getting upset and angry with the lead character as well. Not because he was an ass, just the opposite, but rather because he got to live so long and see so much and will continue to do so. The other characters raw envy really came across well and very believable.
I changed my mind while writing this and won’t give away the real spoiler in the movie. Best that way as I am sure I wouldn’t do it justice. Suffice to say if you are looking for a good scifi movie to watch one evening, give this one a try. It’s a real unheard of Gem and will leave you wondering if it were possible. The movie certainly presents a solid and believable fiction of someone of advanced age, 14,000 years, quietly walking down the ages. Pretty cool.
