Netflix reinvented a 1980s classic formula
Netflix original ‘Rim Of The World’ is the perfect laid back summer movie for kids to catch up in their vacation. Not just because it shows a bunch of kids headed out for a summer camp but also because those kids are handed over the responsibility of saving the world from gnarly aliens.
Written by screenwriter Zack Stentz of Thor, X-Men: First Class fame, it’s reminiscent of the movies from the 80s where the plot is surrounded around kids, with kids saving the day.
In an industry that spends a lavish amount of money expecting higher ROI, it’s hard to see low budget flicks making it, or living to see it become another hit. The Rim Of The World delivers goodies and offers us so much to look up to on a modest budget and a fun script that’s not too overwhelming. It is a kind of movie we’d go out as kids on a typical summer vacation and enjoy it with Dr. Peppers and candy. It gives that vintage childhood vibe that shaped our definition of entertainment.
The film follows a group of kids with different backgrounds, under the influence of their uniquely quirky parents, end up in a summer camp headed by none other than King Bach himself. And when a group of kids goes out for a stroll on the fringe boundaries of the camp, Aliens attack the world, turning the laid back, chill camp into a war-zone. And when the adults cannot get the job done, the key to saving Earth rests in the hands of the kids.
Rim of the World doesn’t attempt to reinvent the sci-fi wheel, but it is entertaining enough to hold your attention if you don’t take it too seriously and don’t try to break it part by part. You’d be wrong to intellectualize the film from the point of a clinical, obscure critique.
This is what Netflix needs. If Netflix has to survive, it needs to invest in meaningful and a diverse array of genres without splashing bug bucks (like Marco Polo, The Ranch) and failing in the process. The aim has to be to take a step back from head-on-colliding with big production houses to picking up thriftily budgeted movies that can make us feel good every time we view them.
