I was very impressed by this movie and highly recommend it. I can't remember when I bawled this much at a movie. This is the kind of science fiction I like: no dystopia and dreariness; no apparent utopia with dark undercurrents; but a hopefulness that is much needed today. I give it a 100. Can't remember a film I liked as much as this one. YMMV.
In the Blink of an Eye: No Spoiler Review
This is a 2026 Sci-Fi offering currently streaming on Hulu. It is a story built on three threads interwoven almost as hair is braided. The three threads are The Past, The Present, and The Future. The "blink of an eye" refers to your lifetime and mine in the context of all of human history past, present, and future.
In The Past, we follow the story of a Neanderthal family unit living on the seashore off of fish and shellfish. We see their subsistence life, their endurance against adversity - the elements, injury, illness, and human needs. In The Present, we see the unfolding story of two graduate students in Anthropology - one studying the remains and funerary artifacts of the Neanderthal family now dead thousands of years. In The Future we see an interstellar ship journey taking curated human embryos from a polluted and dying Earth to the rocky planet Kepler 16b in the care of a shipboard AI and a human female possessed of a longevity that is a burden too great for most humans to bear.
The three stories are not only interleaved but also interrelated. A particular symbol that spans the centuries is an artifact from the Neanderthal funerary site. To me, that artifact represents what remained in Pandora's Box after all of world's ills were unleashed on humanity - Hope. The artifact also represents the future.
The Tomatometer critics gave this one a score of 16%, and the Popcorn meter was more charitable - affording it a score of 71%. The critics seem to have found the story too sentimental.
When we finished this movie last night, my wife asked me, "Are you going to give this one a score of 100%?" If you have followed my movie reviews, you know that I most often come down on the side of the critics or the audience. I never give a movie a score of 100% - even if it has lots of shit blowing up.
Except on this occasion. This flick deserves a score of 100% from me. It is a very engaging tale told in a unique style, that explores much of what it means to be human - to struggle, to grow, to seek and make connections, to remain hopeful, and to survive so that the next generation has the opportunity to grow, to create, and to thrive.
Is it sentimental? Hell yes, and I really appreciate that in this period of American history during which callousness seems to have been deemed a virtue by so many. Highly recommended for all of my thoughtful friends who appreciate science and remain at least guardedly hopeful for our species.
The trailer can be found here.
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