Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

seanjenson A Werner Herzog film is fascinating regardless of the subject and Encounters is no exception. Featuring great shots of Antarctica, much like every Herzog film this one touches you in ways you cannot really express. (Great Herzog film)

jeff468 First off, I'd like to say that I am not any sort of movie buff or amateur critic trying to drive traffic to my hipster blog. I'm just a regular guy that really enjoyed this film and wanted to leave my .02 I do watch a lot of movies. I watch them as most of the general public does, for entertainment. Never have I enjoyed watching a documentary as much as I did when I watched Encounters at the End of the World. Before watching this, the word Documentary transported me back to Middle/High school, where we watched horribly boring crap on a reel to reel projector.I read through a bunch of the 1-3 star ratings because I was curious why people didn't like this film. Most of them complained about the lack of "scientific data" or that it "wandered around aimlessly" or focused too much on the residents and how they went about their lives. Amazingly enough those are the exact reasons why I loved this film. I wasn't overwhelmed with boring scientific stuff - it had just enough. Werner did a great job of showing a little bit of a lot of things, all engaging and entertaining. Lastly, the people he interacted with were great, I felt like each one of them were telling their story just to me.Opposite of some reviews, I enjoy Werner's narrations very much. I find it soothing and enjoyable.Watch this film and enjoy it for what it is, not for what the buffs want it to be.

billcr12 Werner Herzog directs and narrates this fascinating look at Antarctica, taking a camera to places that few people have ever seen. As with Grizzly Man, Herzog displays a dry wit, which makes the documentary even more interesting. He actually cares deeply about the environment which we are destroying every day.Interviews with an iceberg geologist and seal expert are included, along with spectacular footage of nature that makes the documentary so good. The style is that of the television show, National Geographic, with the addition of the always acerbic Herzog. At the South Pole, a penguin expert discusses their plight, and one of the poor birds is shown walking the wrong way, headed for an early grave, it turns out. The crew also visit Mount Erebus, the site of a volcano. Underneath, they find a can of Russian caviar in the tunnels and caverns below.The film is good, with excellent cinematography, Herzog remains an interesting director.

Red-Barracuda Werner Herzog is unique in his ability to make both fiction and non-fiction films that are equally fascinating, original and beautiful. With Encounters at the End of the World he takes us to the most unforgivingly remote place on the planet: Antarctica. But Herzog does not make normal documentaries, so do not expect this to be a typical natural world film. Instead we have a film that is as interested in the people who have chosen to live in this place, as much as the beauties of its natural landscape. In keeping with the director's previous preoccupations this is another look at outsiders and dreamers. The people who live here have chosen to do so for a variety of reasons but what seems to tie them all together is a certain individuality; one that Herzog can identify with.The imagery captured is often poetic in its beauty. We see underwater sequences of life below the ice, a large volcano in the middle of the continent and a penguin wandering insanely in the direction of the distant mountains to its doom, like a crazed hero in a Herzog movie such as Aguirre. There are many small moments of the bizarre that stay long with you such as the stories about microscopic sea-monsters and icebergs the size of Ireland. He captures other unexpected surreal moments such as the tunnel where things are preserved; the fish encased deep in the ice, preserved forever. And only an eccentric such as Herzog would ever ask a penguin expert if there were instances of the birds going insane or practising homosexuality.The film is divided in its view of man's existence in Antarctica and exploration in general. Herzog clearly disliked the ugly settlement of McMurdo and is saddened that Antarctica could not have been left alone. Yet a romantic spirit as adventurous as Herzog is equally fascinated by it and is of course compelled to explore its mysteries. It's another very personal documentary from one of the most consistently interesting film-makers around.