The Man from Earth: Holocene (2017) User Reviews

Could have been much better

[sunrise30 · 5/10 · 17 January 2018]

Movie is watchable, and thats all. No compelling story, no atmopshere, music didnt fit. Students acting was hard to watch, and the ending ruined it all for me. First one wich i consider one of the best movies ever made i could watch all day and night but this one i will erase from my memory. 5 is generous

Dont expect it to be the same

[alfarinrm · 6/10 · 16 January 2018]

The man from earth is my favorite movie ever made. It is amazing. I love it for the narrative style yet mind blowing content. This movie made my sci-fi loving imagination explode, in the end I gave it a standing ovation while being in my room in front of a PC.

And they made a sequel. And it has nothing to do with the first one, dont expect it to. Yes it is about the same fictional persona, yet the movie style is completely different. Now its a teenage adventure, and, to be honest, I wouldnt even watch it to the end if it wasnt out of respect to the first masterpiece.

So give it a shot, but dont expect it to be on the same level. Its different.. and flat.

Let the mystery be

[ChunderY · 4/10 · 16 January 2018]

I was pretty excited about this movie coming out, which may have amplified the disappointment. In retrospect I'm not sure what I expected. I enjoyed the semi open ended ending to the original "The Man from Earth", and as expected this kind of spat on that.

Holocene follows John 10 years post the original movie, where he's set up a new life in a new location with a new name, and is showing signs of itching to leave again.

Some of his new students accidentally discover he might be immortal, and set off to find out if he is or not. It primarily follows the students, and looks into Johns worries about his immortality possibly wearing off.

It came with all of the negatives of the original with none of the wonder. The acting was average as was the production. It had none of the feel of the original movie, and just became a tacky story about an immortal guy dealing with people discovering him.

I mean it even had a post initial credits scene with an FBI agent looking for John. It really feels like this should have been a spin off TV show or something, so you could at least excuse the major feel change with hopes that it'll get better.

I think I'd rather a remake of the original with good actors and a better camera than continuing the way this is going. Do not trust the current rating.

A Good example of why some movies should better be left untouched

[Vishnu_nair · 21 January 2018]

The Man from Earth is one of the most amazing movies ever, I mean there is no other movie of that kind, at least to my best knowledge, and more importantly the movie ended exactly how it should have, it was Perfect in every sense.

The Sequel was a good attempt to say the least but the acting and story itself was rather disappointing. The whole theme of the movie got somewhat disrupted, the original Man from earth was a complete scientific exploration on its own, there was a touch of mystery, facts, a classic debate over human existence and the Gods, where as the sequel was more centred towards John's character, his personal life, and a bunch of school kids investigating his identity, no mystery, no debates, nothing new..viewers already know who and what John is.

So to conclude, its almost impossible to extend a movie like The Man from Earth, my expectations weren't high to begin with but I watched it anyway hoping I will be proved wrong but of course that never happened. So, while I definitely appreciate the effort, I strongly believe that they should have left it where it ended.

Disappointment

[tszula · 3/10 · 16 January 2018]

After a very interesting first movie that continously gave something to think about while watching the sequel is an uninteresting investigation story with boring student characters. This spoiled the shining of the first one. I was watching with great excitement expecting something to be formed but nothing did. And the endcredit scene was a very lame one. Such an uninteresting story. The first one is the one to watch. This one just skip.

Does not live up to the 2007 movie

[list307 · 6/10 · 17 January 2018]

It was a clear disappointment. The 2007 movie is definitely worth watching over and over, this one not so much.

I've shouldn't have watched it

[KrxOn · 3/10 · 30 January 2018]

IMHO first movie was everything: Interesting, clever, intriguing, intelligent, captivating, just continue with superlatives... Heck, I registered here just to be able to rate it, and I've praised it to my friends. Most of them liked it as well. I was thrilled when I've heard about this sequel and I was eager to watch it. Now I would like to un-watch it, because it was completely unnecessary, it actually destroyed mystique of first movie.

ok but...

[vimukthiathauda · 6/10 · 8 March 2021]

Its not as bad as the reviews describe but yeah could have been better.Had some nice turns but overall as a movie this contains some serious flaws. Dialogues and all the stuff with the students felt totally artificial.Looking forward for the third movie and hopefully it would live up to the first one.

Astonishingly bad

[aleph999 · 1/10 · 22 January 2018]

The first movie was made by and for intelligent people. Like it or not, you had to admit it was daring and clever. This one is almost unbelievably sloppy and idiotic. In terms of tone, plot, character development, lightning and photography, it feels like an amateur porn movie, which only makes it more frustrating because there is no porn, although the slutty teenager characters does put up a reasonable effort. (By the way, is that how American kids really dress, talk, think and act in real life? If so, I fear for the future.) With the exception of John Oldman/David Lee Smith, who doesn't even play the main part and has very little to say throughout the movie, all characters are shallow and hateful, and I caught myself wishing them horrible deaths within a few minutes.

In short, the director has just demolished whatever reputation he had gained from the first movie, which was indeed a small jewel. Therefore, I assume any quality we saw then was in the writing, which is sorely lacking here.

What have they done?!?

[Kdosda_Hegen · 6/10 · 25 November 2020]

This film is nothing like original. The whole first film was about philosophy. Here the first 1 hour is a very cheesy storyline of getting to the philosophy part. Then we finally get philosophy. It lasts for 20 minutes only and it's almost nothing we haven't learnt in the previous film. When it decides to end with a cliffhanger and an ambiguous ending at the same time. To be honest it could've been much worse. The ending is not too bad and I'm so happy they did not invent something new which would contradict and ruin it as a franchise, at least for now the first film is still as great as it was. Still this sequel is very poor. It has flaws in story, it only has a story to get to the stuff similar to what first film was going about. I'll admit that there are a few things this film did right. It got the same characters played by same actors and some of the ideas for the "upcoming" sequel are pretty good. I believe it's possible to fix the mess with the promised continuation.

Unnecessary, and Insulting

[kcmsterpce · 3/10 · 20 January 2018]

"The Man from Earth" is one of my favorite movies. It is a masterful story, and David Lee Smith's portrayal of a man who was ultimately looking for a debate with other scholars held me fast. It is, however, a standalone film that has no need for a sequel.

Cut to "The Man from Earth: Holocene", which can be forgiven for the no-budget presentation (heck, the first movie looked worse), and even though the actors typically have dialog that isn't insultingly bad, their lack of physical investment in WHAT they are saying truly IS bad. It can be frustrating to watch actors talking, while their arms are wrapped around their torso awkwardly, or they stand around with their arms at their sides, with body language that negates what is being SAID.

Worst of all, this movie takes one of the more uninteresting aspects of John Oldman's debates about his past, and decides to dedicate an entire movie to that single concept of who he was, or what he did during a small sliver of time. Near the halfway point of this movie, it goes from "I don't get why this movie is being made, but fine, whatever" to "Oh hell naw! No you DIDN'T!"

John ends up being forced to debate with one of his students, in a predicament that John shouldn't have been put into in the first place. This half hour is dreadful. It makes those who might be in the student's favor look like idiots. Whether or not I believe with either party's opinion, I think the third act should only have been considered during a rough draft discussion, then laughed off and tossed aside. never to be written into a screenplay. The "debate" and discussion that proceeds for most of the rest of the movie manages to delve deeper into a downward spiral of insipid immaturity, and every character makes the WRONG decision when it's time to act. My initial impression about a sequel to "The Man from Earth" could not have been more right: Just Let It Be. Don't Touch It. Instead, this sequel was made, and ended up puking on the unique storytelling mastery of the first movie. Skip it. Watch the first one again.

• As a bonus, there's a mid-credit scene that hints at a sequel. One that is guaranteed to dive deeper into that hole in which rabbits probably poop into.

NOT it's predecessor

[mountainous67 · 10/10 · 22 February 2020]

As I write this review, every other review posted immediately mentions and compares this film to its predecessor, which was nrilliant. I'm as impressed with David Lee Smith in this film as I was in the first, he appears not to have aged. The acting by the students is great. They are very knowledgeable and arent afraid to jump right in and pursue professor Oldman, each for their own reason, refusing to take no for an answer. The script is clear and sharp and delivered well by the characters, each of which I identified with. Again, spot on acting. I especially enjoyed Sterling Knights portrayed of and performance as a religious zealot who absolutely refuses to give up his faith. The Church has terrorized and controlled it's victims for so long and many, many have died under it's oppression. Thankfully though, not John Oldman. The film was 98 minutes and delivered it's message perfectly with a solid ending. Just watch the film as it's own film. Nothing can equal the original. Highly recommended.

Better than I thought

[scarter-45449 · 7/10 · 23 January 2018]

I've been coming to IMDB for years and just now signed up so I could review this movie. Lowish budget - yes Acting - Average to slightly better than average. Idea of an immortal - Think highlander Oscar material - Not a chance Explosions/action/murders - Nil. Or was there one?? Entertaining - yes Have I seen the first one? - No

Its the sheer fact that afterwards it made me sit there thinking about it that made it worthwhile. Who is this guy? Is he who he says he has been in history? Is he this amazing kind person? Is he something else? The FBI agent threw a big spanner in the works at the end to make you think, 'ah crap now I really don't know' I think a good movie should make you think and ponder. With everything against it, I think it achieved just that.

Terrible Sequel

[askelley-37133 · 1/10 · 17 January 2018]

The first movie Man from Earth was written by Jerome Bixby -- a talented man who wrote for the Twilight Zone and Star Trek. This sequel, written by Bixby's son falls flat on its face. Bixby's son just does not have the talent his father had, try as he might.

His dialogue is hollow and boring. The characters do not have the humanity as the first.

Your life will not be incomplete if you miss this one, and trust me, you want to miss it.

Angry with myself for watching this

[grynai · 3/10 · 20 January 2018]

I only gave three stars because of David Lee Smith. I can't forgive myself for ignoring all the negative reviews and deciding to give this a shot anyway. To the fans of the original film: don't watch this. Seriously, just don't. Watch the original one more time instead.

It's very hard to believe Holocene was created by the same people. The script, the casting - everything is so much worse. Acting by the four kids is just painful to watch, not to mention that all four characters seem to be clinical sociopaths with zero bad feelings about doing things that any sane, civilized human being would feel extremely uneasy partaking in. And what the what was there, at the very end? I won't include any spoilers, but... seriously?

I can't say I expected it to be a masterpiece like the original film, but I didn't expect it to be so bad. Please drop the idea of another film or a TV series.

A lousy sequel.

[MovieIQTest · 24 January 2018]

What a disappointment. I was lured by the title "The Man from Earth" but didn't pay too much to the appendix word "Holocene" behind it. When I peaked my interest to watch it, then the "Holo..." of that word suddenly became "HollowScene". What a lousy sequel, man. It totally ruined my good memory of the original one. With some very annoying and unlikable college students, especially that pretentious and disgusting white girl's performance, this film has simply turned into a disastrous, shallow, predictable, torturous, absolutely unwatchable B movie. This film does not deserve a long review, so I rest my case.

A Worthy Outrage?

[witster18 · 6/10 · 5 December 2023]

Man From Earth Holocene is getting a bad wrap. Hear me out.

We can't sit here and act like we should be expecting high-production value. The first film lacked that, and this film is similarly molded with campy-production values and hallmark music. If we're going to give the first film a pass for that, then the same needs to be done here.

It's been 10-years since the first film, and I for one was excited to see a follow-up. I didn't even know it was released. I just recently discovered that it was, 6 or 7 years after the fact mind you(dec '23), and of course, I immediately sat down to watch-it.

Yes, those production short-comings were still there, but having seen the original, they were no surprise or distraction.

There are two types of viewers that will, specifically, loath this follow-up. The first are those that did not see the first film. For them, the campy production and concept will fall short, they will be an unpleasant surprise, but for me, overall, this is a worthy follow-up. Watching the first film is not a requirement for understanding any of the concepts, but some of the relationships carried-over have more impact if you have viewed the original.

The second group will loath the film for the same reason I like it, and that is that Holocene asks even more serious and critical questions about Christianity. The first film doesn't tackle the absolutes and strong emotions involved with devotion, faith, and the broader religious impact of the original idea, like Holocene. Much like films with political undertones are divisive - the same can be said about the political and religious undertones of Holocene. Do NoT pass on the sequel due to the current 5.2 rating. That rating is likely skewed for those reasons. Where the original safely dabbled in the "misinterpretations" of Christianity, the second film here hits the subject head-on.

Sterling Knight deserves some props for his supporting role as Philip, a devout Christian college student who feels both intrigued and seriously conflicted by this new revelation. Mr. Knight deserves some bigger roles in bigger films.

I also liked Vanessa Williams and Michael Dorn in their supporting roles. Both give solid performances, although, the break-up scene missed an opportunity to add even more emotional complexity to the film.

Overall, Holocene is a worthy follow-up. It isn't as good as the original, but it is as daring as the original. I think the film has two scenes that could have been even more emotional and more well-written; the break-up, and the basement scene(the films best), both could have really elevated this film to the heights of the original, but fell just a bit short. The tazer concept would have been more believable if Philip would have pulled the trigger.

I still enjoyed the film. It did just about everything I could have expected from a follow-up, progressing the story, concepts, and characters, while presenting even more questions and new interest; perhaps, similar to what this film did with the religious quandary, to be later expanded-upon. In that way, and with the final scene, I would watch and anticipate a third entry. I hope the rating here doesn't discourage that prospect.

Holocene is better than it's 5.2 rating here. Don't pass on this if you enjoyed the original. Devout Christians probably left "Man From earth" puzzled or intrigued, but they also might leave "Holocene", outraged. That's the only thing that could explain watchers of the original, giving this 1 or 2 stars. It's too much like the original, and also not far-off in overall quality, to be critiqued so harshly, unless many are outraged by its' religious undoing. I think this is a solid follow-up, that would also serve as a nice connector for a final film of a trilogy, or at least that's my hope. The original concept is so intriguing that it glosses-over the production short-comings of the original. If you afford the sequel the same considerations, it's nearly as good. Watch it.

It would be interesting to see the ratings broken down by religious groups.

59/100.

This is a sacrilege

[Thunder-Storm · 3/10 · 5 February 2018]

This is an insult a sacrilege to the first one.If it didn't have the title''The man from earth" I would say that it is an average, not very well made,very forgetable but watchable movie.But since it has this title and pretents to be the continuation of the first movie I say this is an insult.That's all I have to say about this movie. PS. Nevertheless I donated money(mainly because the first one was a masterpiece)because I like the idea behind the honour system.

Better than expected

[yespat · 7/10 · 27 November 2023]

The reviews have been so bad I almost chose to not see it. One reviewer recommended to see it anyway so I thought I'd give it a chance. I ended up giving it a rating of 7 as I thought it was worth seeing. I think one reason I liked it more than others is because I was not completely taken by the first film. It seemed to me that the first film's audience was geared for young college kids who have not had a chance to think through huge issues. I have had the time to read and process such ideas over the years so the concepts the first film brought up was not mind blowing to me as many of the people who loved that film. Both were interesting diversions, nothing more. A rating of 7 is the first number in ratings here that I will allow myself to spend time watching so I thought that was an appropriate rating.

The ending opens up the story for a sequel. I wouldn't mind seeing that.

An insult for the author of the first movie

[jcanonmercado · 1/10 · 18 January 2018]

Jerome Bixby worked for more than 30 years to write the master piece the first movie is based on, this jerks insult his memory with this movie. The movie looks like an episode of incredible hulk and they even pretend to launch more movies...

For me was like seen the second part of Romeo of Juliet, just not from shakespeare but from the writer of the A-team or Alf or something like that... It makes no sense at all

The worst part is most people think first and second part came from the same author so as I said, is an insult to the work of Jerome Bixby

Interesting storyline

[xouponjim · 6/10 · 11 March 2021]

A lot of these low budget movies you have to take it for what they are and stop comparing them to Blockbusters. I give this one a six because the storyline was interesting to me the acting wasn't dreadful and it seemed to be shot well. For a movie that only cost 300,000 a make I feel they did a fine job.

There was no need for a sequel to this movie

[jack_o_hasanov_imdb · 5/10 · 27 August 2021]

There was no need for a sequel to this movie.

Too bad. My goodness, they screwed up by making the sequel of the movie.

Missing the point?

[rwmitchem · 9/10 · 27 September 2019]

Many of the low reviews for this film are venomous, desperate and childish, that it would seem, the point the film makes goes straight over their heads. And that point is "reality". Yes reality is a disappointment, anyone that's lived past the age of 40 knows this all too well. Life's a b*tch and reality sucks. And I believe that's what upset people the most about this film. It went in a direction that hurts the original. Just like reality. But just like the original, it takes a concept like religion and turns it on end, and shows it for the farce that it is. A man-made fiction. Not that there isn't any positive aspects to it, just that when it's put on a pedestal it's not hard to knock down. Yet the message of the film is that the planet we dwell on for a few decades is what we make of it, or at least can be. I guess the right word is, "is". The world "is" what we've made it to be and superstitions are just a part of that world. And the reality of that is there is absolutely no good reason to believe any of it. People believe things, not for good reasons, but because they desperately want to believe them. This film shows a young man that is a follower of a "peaceful" religion stab a bound man simply because the bound man threatens his irrationally deep-seeded beliefs. That point struck home with a vengeance. All it takes is to question their "faith" and they strike like a rattlesnake. And I have no doubt this is exactly how an organization that would hide child predators from the world would react to such a threat. Strike it down before their control is lost! But hidden in this film is a true message. A message that hopefully you'll find when you watch the film. Sure, the acting isn't the best, and the story could be better, but I'll not demolish the film simply because it has a low budget. Low budget films deserve their due just like any other. One has to overlook the fact that they can't hire A+ actors and spend millions on the film. Besides, how many takes can you have with a low budget film? Actors can get it right eventually and people will conclude they're awesome actors, when it reality it's they finally got it right after 20 takes! Some of the actors in this film are very good, just fyi. The takeaway is what it does to your psyche when it's done. Does it make you think and provoke your mind into thought? I think it does.

Lots of potential, an enjoyable revisit to a great story

[bentauer · 7/10 · 6 February 2021]

This sequel to The Man From Earth was enjoyable extension to the original story. They bring some new things to the table and I liked how some of the original cast shows up. Its sort of a turning point in Johns life, a turn that we know has happened before but not for a long time. And they begin to address the issue of growing technology for a person like that. I think everyone was left wondering what life was like for John after the first movie. And here we get to see a glimpse of that.

Admittedly it came off as a made for tv movie, but for me that's OK! Its an independent film where I think you need to focus more on the content and ideas than the exact execution. I want to give it an 8 or 9 for my own pleasure in discovering and watching it but as a movie experience its not there.

While I enjoyed it a lot there were many areas it could be improved. The acting was great at times and not so great at times. Sometimes the plot didn't quite make sense, what the characters say in a few crucial scenes seems out of the blue. There is a major shift that to me just didn't feel in line with the rest of the movie. At least in terms of the characters. But over all its well worth a watch if you liked the first one. I hope they keep making them, and perhaps it will be a series that improves with time if more movies are made.

Abrupt plot change from the original, not what was expected.

[abhi-sohu · 3/10 · 17 January 2018]

What began as a thrilling, well researched, thought invoking and beautifully crafted drama has been reduced to a teenage adventure with abrupt twists and turns with the rationale biting the dust. As John Oldman now professor Young begins to grab the attention of four of his students, who apparently are smart enough deduce reality, a needless plot turn renders them all act as 12 year old's who are just too adamant to get the candy which their parents won't let them have. A waste of time and more importantly not at all befitting the legacy the original movie left behind a decade ago.