‎The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) directed by Werner Herzog • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

The Wild Blue Yonder

2005 Directed by Werner Herzog

An alien narrates the story of his dying planet, his and his people's visitations to Earth and Earth's self-made demise, while human astronauts in space are attempting to find an alternate planet for surviving humans to live on.

Brad Dourif Donald Williams Ellen Baker Franklin Chang-Diaz Shannon Lucid Michael McCulley Roger Diehl Martin Lo Ted Sweetser

81 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by bunny_man ★★★★½ 4

Predivan film. Svaki put kad pogledam Herzogov film sjetim se zašto ga obožavam. Čovjek je pjesnik, način na koji on vidi svijet je čaroban. Ne vjerujem kako je on uspio složit narativ iz dokumentarnih snimki astronauta u svemiru i ronioca na Antarktiku. Savršeno! Film je kolaž found footagea zalijepljen glazbom. Super mi je činjenica da prikaz nepoznatih krajolika na Zemlji u kombinaciji s etno muzikom (brijem da je mongolska, zvuči ko neki throat singing) stvara dojam druge planete. Uistinu smo kulturalno udešeni! Herzog oženi me!
Review by Jay D 's Watching ★★

I'm not sure what it says about me, but I started enjoying this much more once I stopped taking Brad Dourif at face value and just took him to be a crazy guy who thought he was an alien showing off his home video collection.
Review by Evan "A Bit Much" Pincus ★★★★½

Basically sci-fi Lessons of Darkness, this science fiction fantasy by Werner Herzog returns to the same format and style that made that great, but as it goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that LoD definitely benefits from a much tighter runtime. Even at a brief 77 minutes, The Wild Blue Yonder has the occasional tendency to drag, especially in its long wordless segments (the footage just isn't as engaging as the apocalyptic helicopter vistas of Lessons of Darkness) and the moments where it leans more towards traditional documentary (I could have seen a LOT less of that guy talking about tunnels through spacetime). Still, I'm here for a spiritual successor to one of my favorite movies of all time, especially…
Review by Zak Bronson ★★★★

I love that running time.
Review by Jack ★★★½

Werner Herzog's follow-up to Grizzly Man is, rather predictably, like no other film...except, perhaps, one by Werner Herzog; 1992's Lessons of Darkness, in which he formed a narrative by recontextualising documentary footage of Kuwait's devastated post-Gulf War oil fields. The Wild Blue Yonder uses primarily archival footage of space travel and underwater exploration of the Antarctic. Like Grizzly Man, Herzog is here preoccupied with those who "cross a line" with nature.

Brad Dourif, a true livewire, plays an alien who emigrated to earth as the result of an ice age, only for humans to attempt to do the same to his planet. In one of his madcap rants that provide the film's backbone, he laments that human astronauts exploring his…
Review by James Scott

Despite moments of grace, Herzogian humour, the characteristic beautiful music, the characteristic astonishing footage, and a game (though very strange) performance from Dourif, this is a total misfire.

Perhaps there's something to the concept, but I had a hard time not being cynical about the approach. I reckon if Herzog himself had starred I would have been persuaded more easily that this isn't a placeholder film between much better ones.

Recent reviews

Review by bekindrewind_

bit.ly/2IExBdI
Review by BreefEncounter ★★★★★

I could watch this film every day for the rest of my life.
Review by Phil Bernstein

This got me extremely sad about the prospect of space colonization. Love the way Herzog recontextualizes images of human technology and exploration as alien ones, though. And my birthday-buddy Brad Dourif.
Review by Dave Randall ★½

Not peak Herzog
Review by Evan "A Bit Much" Pincus ★★★★½

Basically sci-fi Lessons of Darkness, this science fiction fantasy by Werner Herzog returns to the same format and style that made that great, but as it goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that LoD definitely benefits from a much tighter runtime. Even at a brief 77 minutes, The Wild Blue Yonder has the occasional tendency to drag, especially in its long wordless segments (the footage just isn't as engaging as the apocalyptic helicopter vistas of Lessons of Darkness) and the moments where it leans more towards traditional documentary (I could have seen a LOT less of that guy talking about tunnels through spacetime). Still, I'm here for a spiritual successor to one of my favorite movies of all time, especially…
Review by Mattias ★★★½

The perfect movie to watch when doing origami in the morning.
Review by David Clarke ★★★

The cool idea of telling a sci fi story almost totally using documentary and found footage and despite my admiration for Werner Herzog's work, this story about a voyage to Alpha Centauri narrated by an alien visitor played by Brad Dourif is a long hard watch and the soundtrack doesn't help one bit.
Review by wackystuff ★★½

Weird. Just weird. You have to give Herzog credit for trying something different. He does some amazing films. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them.
Review by James Scott

Despite moments of grace, Herzogian humour, the characteristic beautiful music, the characteristic astonishing footage, and a game (though very strange) performance from Dourif, this is a total misfire.

Perhaps there's something to the concept, but I had a hard time not being cynical about the approach. I reckon if Herzog himself had starred I would have been persuaded more easily that this isn't a placeholder film between much better ones.