Io

THE GIST: After catastrophic climate change has rendered much of Earth's atmosphere unbreathable and caused the evacuation of most of humanity off planet, a young scientist is researching ways to make the air safe again so that humans can come back. The final shuttle flight, however, is scheduled to leave soon, and a guy suddenly shows up on his way to it. Should she go with him?

I'm not one to wander streaming channels' offerings for movies to watch, as I have a pretty long, carefully curated list of titles from which to pick, but this particular night I was done with a previous show and Netflix suggested Io.

Intrigued by its brief description, I dove right in, but I really wish I had done more research first. Only after it was over, I realized this was a Netflix production, which frankly doesn't guarantee quality as their focus seems to be primarily on quantity.

Alas, once started, I hardly ever give up on a movie, especially this short, so I stuck with it to the end, only to be left with the bitter feeling of having watched a movie about a story that sounds intriguing on paper, but lacks in execution. It really felt like a missed opportunity, which is all the more upsetting when you think of the financial resources of a behemoth like Netflix.

Oh well, too bad. Watching this, I learned my lesson not to trust those "based on what you previously watched, you might be interested in..." ads, only to be offered one of their own middling products.

THE BOTTOM LINE: A pitiful attempt to make a cool movie about a very current topic. A weak script shares the blame with the director. Skip it.

Grade: 4.5