plazzcorp I'm a sci-fi buff and I can almost tolerate anything remotely sci-fi even with bad CGI. But this.. It must have been done on a $10 budget! I barely lasted 30 minutes into it. There was no enjoyment or acting quality or visual pleasure. Is there such a thing as video plagiarism? Inserting really old media news footage of satellite preparations here and there was pathetic.The viewer is forced to withstand many long apparently monotonous sequences, of old NASA filed film propaganda footage perhaps reminiscent of the old cold war periods or the race to beat the USSR to space with a bit of 1930's depression thrown in?. I'm told I should just relax, and let myself feel the depth and poetry of "The Wild Blue Yonder". But I'm sorry to say I don't do drugs of drink copious amounts of alcohol. So I must obviously be unable to hallucinate in seeing any merit in this film. I would rather have myself strapped in kicking and screaming and force to watch the Blair Witch Project again than view this again. This should be listed under the genres project in development something like "delusions of mentally unstable ex-actor alcoholics. I could of done better falling asleep and dreaming up my own sci-fi fantasy. A waste of time.:((

mstomaso Everything in The Wild Blue Yonder is intentional. The use of stock footage from NASA in place of special effects and the inescapable tedium of this footage; the implausible concepts from physics which are neither explained nor clearly connected to the vaguely coherent "plot"; the fact that alien space traveler Brad Dourif and his alleged (but never seen) extraterrestrial colleagues do not appear to be in any way different from somewhat neurotic Americans with bad business sense; The stark beauty of the underwater scenes and the immediate disruption of this beauty by the arrival of humanity; the accuracy of the alien narrators comments regarding the impossibility of intergalactic travel and the continuity problems which stem from this jarring set of facts. I am not sure Herzog planned all of this, but I do believe that once he has identified the film he is making, he's pretty meticulous and consistent about putting it together. This film has two texts: 1 the plot - which is a bit of silliness about aliens coming to earth because their planet is undergoing environmental catastrophes and earthlings going to their planet for the same reason. This story is so absurd that it is difficult to understand why some reviewers seem to believe it is really most of what is going on in the film.2. the joke - which is the meta-text, and a contribution to Herzog's seemingly endless commentary on human nature and human affairs, though definitely one of his less clear and forceful critiques. The film parodies the Star Trek concept of space travel and the future as a panacea for human problems, and does so on many levels: including patent ridiculousness of the plot; the tedious stock footage which is so painfully unrelated to the narrative; the alien who looks so much like us it is unnerving and who admits, halfway through the film, that he and his fellow aliens "suck". What Herzog ends up with here is possibly the lowest budget space movie ever shot. Assuming he got his usual fee, Brad Dourif probably challenged the post-production budget for the most costly element of this film. What the more receptive members of his audience get is a film that is strangely difficult to forget, despite the fact that its plot is utterly forgettable. As a space adventure, Blue Yonder fails utterly and miserably - and that is part of Herzog's point! As a smart sci-fi film - not as challenging or stilted as Tarkovsky's work, but in some ways, as profound - it succeeds, but does not really excel.Recommended for fans of philosophical sci fi and fans of Herzog. Not recommended for anybody else.

vogonify An extremely disappointing Herzog film, Wild Blue Yonder is laboured and boring. Herzog's ability to identify peculiar subjects for exploration have resulted in some of the most enchanting documentaries and films. Be it Grizzly Man, White Diamond or his effort in 10 Minutes Older, there is an unmistakable zest about his films. In Wild Blue Yonder, Herzog intersperses a space mission with an alien as a character pulling the strings. Again, the subject is potentially exhilarating. But the film failed to keep the intensity of the above mentioned films. The meandering here is dull and the slow-pace just gets to you unlike say in Fitzcarraldo.

richard_sleboe I'm not sure at all what this is. Maybe that's a good thing. Director Werner Herzog calls it "a science fiction fantasy", but that doesn't say much. Using existing footage from space (from the 1989 Atlantis mission STS-34) and Antarctica (by Henry Kaiser) as well as about 15 minutes of his own footage, Herzog creates a faux narrative revolving around an alien in human shape (Brad Dourif) looking almost, but not entirely unlike a Steve Ballmer/Karl Lagerfeld crossbreed. We are led to believe he stranded on earth as a refugee from the Andromeda galaxy, while shuttle astronauts are exploring his native world as a potential human habitat. The local wildlife (mostly jellyfish) apparently speaks Swahili (or something), while back on earth madcap NASA scientists fantasize about shopping malls in space. It's at least as far-fetched as it sounds, but not without humorous touches. I especially liked the alien's synopsis of 20th century Terran history: WWI, WWII, Marylin Monroe, Elvis Presley. Sums it up pretty nicely I think.