The comparison of taking out a meteor that is headed towards Earth with a super weapon and managing climate change is highly flawed. In the movie, the government invests in a counter weapon that launches missiles for Earth with the goal of hitting the meteor, breaking it into smaller pieces that would not cause any significant damage to the Earth. The mission is aborted due to the interests of corporations.
This stand of action implies that we have the solution in front of us yet we are too greedy to follow through with it. It is really not that simple. To change our ecological impact, it is required that we change our lifestyles. This would cause industries to shut down, economies to shift and many to collapse. The consumer lifestyle that is especially emphasized in the western world would not be able to co-exist with these changes. Don’t Look Up highly simplifies this and offers this one easy solution of shooting missiles into the sky as an equivalent to ending climate change. It overlooks all the negative aspects that would need to be considered if this solution were to be explored.
If the movie wanted to provide a realistic approach to what climate change is, and what it would take to change it, it needs to offer at least a glimpse of ideological and practical sacrifices that need to be made in order to achieve this goal.
