In the Blink of an Eye – Movie Review | Hulu (3/5)

IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE on Hulu is a new sci-fi drama about life, the power of connection, and overcoming obstacles. While it has gotten a very harsh reception from most critics, I am very happy to recommend it. It’s ultimately a feel-good sci-fi story about humanity. Read our full In The Blink of an Eye movie review here and find it on Hulu (or Disney+ internationally) now!

IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE is a Hulu and Disney+ sci-fi movie starring Kate McKinnon and Rashida Jones in the two key roles. This is a story that spans thousands of years, focusing on everything that connects us in a time where there is far too much emphasis on what can divide us. Actually, “just” a few centuries between the storylines of the two women, but we begin much earlier.

The tagline of this sci-fi movie is “All We Share, And All We Experience, Echoes Across Time,” and the movie fully lives up to this. It’s not a horror or thriller movie, though there are parts where it seems all is lost. And grief, along with loss are a part of this story, just like it’s part of the story for a lot of us. In essence, this is about human nature and how we are better when we work together.

Continue reading our In the Blink of an Eye movie review below. Find it on Hulu and Disney+ now.

How will we survive? Together!

In this Hulu sci-fi drama, we begin just as Homo sapiens are taking over on Earth. However, much of the story also plays out in the future. There, we are onboard a spaceship heading towards a new habitable planet. And no, this isn’t a cli-fi (climate science fiction hybrid), though I feel very confident that this was originally a part of the story in the movie as well.

Instead, we focus on the aftermath.

I mean, there is a reason we must find a new planet. While it isn’t commented on directly, the indications are there. I would think it has to do with overpopulation in the background of something positive, but also dangerous to our fragile and already strained ecosystem here on Earth. And that’s all I’ll say about that to avoid any major spoilers for In the Blink of an Eye.

The three stories of In the Blink of an Eye

As already revealed, we begin in the distant past. Here, we meet a Neanderthal family (Jorge Vargas, Tanaya Beatty), displaced from their home and struggling to survive. Then we go to the present day, where Claire (Rashida Jones) works as a driven post-graduate anthropologist who is studying ancient protohuman remains. All while beginning a relationship with Greg (Daveed Diggs).

Finally, we get to the future (around two centuries later), and now we’re aboard a spaceship bound for a distant planet. Here, we follow Coakley (Kate McKinnon in a strong and serious role), who is the only human currently there. She is joined only by a sentient computer, Rosco (Rhona Rees). The plan is to create life while heading towards a new planet. While going there, something suddenly happens that forces changes.

These three storylines span thousands of years, but show human beings as being so very similar across all these millennia. Showing that there is so much more connecting us than separating us.

If this sounds too “weak” or “boring” to you, then maybe this is exactly the kind of reboot you need in your life.

So much hate towards this Hulu Sci-Fi movie

The runtime is just 94 minutes (though it’s longer with commercials, obviously), and I thoroughly enjoyed how it played out. It has gotten a very harsh reception from most critics, which I simply cannot relate to. Sure, there are parts of the story that reminded me of Cloud Atlas (which I love) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (which I recognize the value of), but this is just as much connected to Wall-E.

Or rather, In the Blink of an Eye is the same as those other two movies in the same way that you could say Scream is the same as Halloween. Both are slashers featuring a masked killer and a final girl, but other than that, they are their own beasts. The same goes for this one.

It’s a story about grief (a key element in many horror movies currently), trauma, and perseverance. So, basically, getting through life as a human. From when we went around wearing fur and surviving on being able to create fire, to scientists discovering new answers by looking at the humans who lived back then, and finally, into the future, where we are looking for a new planet to call home.

Watch In the Blink of an Eye on Hulu and Disney+ now

The director of In the Blink of an Eye is Andrew Stanton, who gave us WALL-E (2008). He also directed John Carter (2012), which is one of the movies famed for failing at the box office. And yet, it’s nowhere near as bad as its rep (as revealed by its current 6.6 IMDb rating). Since then, Andrew Stanton has directed episodes of Stranger Things, Tales From the Loop, and 3 Body Problem.

All of these previous projects can easily be compared (in some way) to this new Hulu & Disney+ sci-fi movie. However, the screenplay doesn’t come from Andrew Stanton, as a movie like WALL-E did. Instead, it comes from Colby Day. He previously wrote the 2024 Netflix sci-fi movie Spaceman.

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To make a movie like In the Blink of an Eye, somehow feels inherently political in this day and age. Despite nothing political being mentioned at all. It’s the focus on us being better when we work together, as opposed to fighting each other all the time, that awakens this feeling in me. This key point of the story makes it so difficult for me to understand why critics are so harsh on it.

I mean, you certainly cannot deny the quality of the actors, nor the production. And both the director and screenwriter are proven talents, so what’s the deal?! You all want to just watch apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic movies to mirror the current climate? Instead of seeing something hopeful? It certainly feels that way.

Well, not me, I am all for trying to fight the darkness with light, and that is what In the Blink of an Eye does. So, please check it out and enjoy the magic and wonder of what we human beings can achieve when we actively decide work together for good.

In the Blink of an Eye is out on Hulu and Disney+ from February 27, 2026.

Details

Directed by: Andrew Stanton
Written by: Colby Day
Cast: Rashida Jones, Kate McKinnon, Daveed Diggs, Jorge Vargas, Tanaya Beatty