The Man from Earth Review by The Alpha Craig (3.5 Stars)

The Man from Earth Review by The Alpha Craig (3.5 Stars) | MatchFlick

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Movie Details

All Movie Info

Starring:
Ellen Crawford, William Katt, Richard Riehle, David Lee Smith, Tony Todd, John Billingsley, Steven Littles, Chase Sprague, Annika Peterson, Annika Peterson, Alexis Thorpe, Robbie Bryan

Directed By:
Richard Schenkman

Written By:
Jerome Bixby

The Man from Earth (2006)

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Movie Review by The Alpha Craig

November 24th, 2007

Living 14,000 years doesn't make me a genius,

I just had time.

Let me just make this clear from the start, this is an intellectual discussion driven story. If you aren't interested in listening to a group of scholars discussing interesting theories on historical events based on the idea of one of them being an actual observer/participant, then this isn't the movie for you. If you are open minded enough to listen to what might be thought of by some as "historical/religious" debunking then you might be interested in seeing this movie.

Professor John Oldman resigned from his teaching position of ten years. As he was packing up to leave, five of his colleges decide to pay him a visit with food for a going away party. Oldman decided to be honest with them about a secret he has been hiding for 14,000 years, he is immortal. As he tried to explain to his colleges, they must decide if they believe, not believe him or just want to believe him out of loyalty to their friend.

This movie posed some interesting ideas such as "What if Jesus had really been a guy who tried to pass on the teaching of Buddha?" or "When is the first actual memory you can recall with clarity" or "If you live long enough, will you want to go forever or stop at some point?" Those are just a few questions, but there are much more. Like I said, this is an intellectual movie in the sense that it makes you think.

David Lee Smith (ZODIAC) as Professor John Oldman was pretty convincing in his portrayal. If you figure a man has lived for 14,000, he pretty much wouldn't care if his story is believed or not. If he chose to tell somebody about his life, he would simply throw it out there and let the listener chose if they believe or not. John Billingsley (THE RIPPLE EFFECT) as Harry, Tony Todd (DARK REEL) as Dan, Alexis Thorpe (THE UNLIKELY'S) as Linda and Annika Peterson (DEVIL YOU KNOW) as Sandy all played the supportive friends very well, and it would hard to be supportive of a friend who may very well be revealing a mental instability. Ellen Crawford (REMEMBER) as Edith, Richard Riehle (OFFICE SPACE) as "Gruber" and William Katt (BEAUTIFUL LOSER) as Art were the opposite in how they completely did not want to hear what the person they claimed to be their friend was saying.

Ultimately this was a movie that posed a lot of interesting ideas, but it really took place in one location the majority of the movie. If you want to see action, suspense, drama or comedy this is not the movie for you. If you like the idea of taking preconceived notions of history and trying to imagine what they must have been like for someone who witnessed/took part it, you might just like this movie.

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