The Discovery

2017

1h 42m

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

1.4K

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Drama

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Science Fiction

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In the near future, due to a breakthrough scientific discovery by Dr. Thomas Harbor, there is now definitive proof of an afterlife. While countless people have chosen suicide to reset their existence, others try to decide what it all means. Among them is Dr. Harbor's son Will, who has arrived at his father's isolated compound with a mysterious young woman named Isla. There, they discover the strange acolytes who help Dr. Harbor with his experiments.

Directors

Charlie McDowell

Writers

Justin Lader(writer by)

Charlie McDowell(writer by)

Stars

Jason Segel

Rooney Mara

Robert Redford

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Photos22

Top cast

Will Harbor

Isla

Dr. Thomas Harbor

Toby Harbor

Lacey

Cooper

Andy

Pam

Janice Phillips

Oliver

Interviewer

Coroner

Hospital Janitor

Mom

Newscaster

Marvin (uncredited)

Pat Phillips (uncredited)

Directors

Charlie McDowell

Writers

Justin Lader(writer by)

Charlie McDowell(writer by)

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Featured review

1/10

The Discovery poses a very interesting question. If life after death was scientifically proven, would this knowledge cause a massive wave of suicides? Oh, wait; did I say “interesting”? Actually, I meant “stupid.” Dr. Thomas Harbor (Robert Redford) claims to have discovered, in Hamlet's words, "the undiscovered country." Six months later, “the number of suicides has quickly reached one million.” They say curiosity killed the cat, but even a cat has more common sense than this. It’s impossible to take The Discovery seriously for the simple reason that millions and millions of people have believed and continue to do so in some kind of afterlife, and none of them save the most deranged and disturbed are in any hurry to cross over to the other side. What's more, these believers have no regard for scientific proof – if they did, they wouldn’t be believers at all –; to them, it all comes down to faith, which is the basis for all religions. By the same token, most religions have laws against suicide; oh, those who take their own lives do go somewhere, but it’s not a place anyone is looking forward to spending the rest of eternity at. Of course, it’s possible that the afterlife Dr. Redford has discovered is not governed according to the tenets of any one theology – but then its true nature is never specified, so who’s to say that all these idiots offing themselves aren’t punching a one-way ticket straight to hell (or worse)? One thing’s for sure, though, and it’s that these suicidal maniacs are too dumb to live anyway. All of Redford’s considerable gravitas can’t keep the good doctor from coming across as a quack, whose explanation for the afterlife sounds, accordingly, as a crock of pseudoscientific drivel. The makers of this movie undoubtedly have a low opinion of the same masses one assumes they expected to lure into watching this dreck, if they truly believe so many of us would so carelessly engage in an experiment that is tantamount to jumping into a pool that may or may not have any water in it.

tmdb2803902329 Aug, 2022