Take Shelter review: No disaster movie can be as depressing as this

By Chris Tookey

Last updated at 8:39 AM on 25th November 2011

Take Shelter (15)

Verdict: Run Away

Rating:

A hysterical over-reaction to climate change or possibly a despairing response to the current economic crisis, Take Shelter is the story of a latterday Noah trying to warn mankind of imminent catastrophe.

Or it could be a study of  a paranoid schizophrenic falling apart. It’s up to the audience to choose, up until the final shot.

Hysterical overreaction: Michael Shannon and Tova Stewart in climate change disaster movie Take Shelter

Michael Shannon (above) does an eye-catching job of impersonating a present-day Cassandra, even if he does bear an unfortunate physical resemblance to Herman Munster.

His big scenes must give him an outside chance of an Oscar nomination as Best Actor. Jessica Chastain is nearly as impressive as his anxious,  but supportive wife.

However, writer-director Jeff Nichols has nothing positive to say, and spends more than two hours saying it. It’s a superficial movie pretending to be deep.

Taking Shelter would make a daunting double-bill with Lars von Trier’s end-of-the-world melodrama Melancholia, even for depressives. Miserable, slow and over-long, it’s not a barrel of laughs for anyone else.