Any movie that succeeds in making Michael Shannon seem decent and hot deserves some kind of kudos. Tan Michael Shannon, and the crazy melts. Kidding aside (I’m not kidding), Young Ones has an initially riveting forty minutes then the rest of the film collapses by breaking the fundamental rule of filmmaking: always keep your most interesting character and/or best actor on screen for as long as possible. Nicholas Hoult is a good actor, but his character is underdeveloped in comparison to Michael Shannon’s. Things happen, but things feel like they happen to the character rather than definitive enthusiastic action initiated by the character. Ultimately Young Ones falls flat because of narrative failures, but the visual carries the film kicking and screaming to an awkward denouement. Young Ones visually aims for Star Wars in Tataouine meets Sergio Leone. The narrative has strong elements, but doesn’t quite come together. It feels like we arrived at a story that started generations ago, and Young Ones does not effectively bring us up to date. It is Hamlet meets Cain and Abel meets Giant, but just a smidge off. There is an absence of conflict between the fathers, but the sons still feel the need to avenge their fathers. There is some Biblical aspect to Young Ones. Character names are Jerome, Ernest, Caleb, Samuel. There is a billboard of a man with a snake in front of him, and that man offers a machine with knowledge that poisons instead of enlightens. The original sin in Young Ones is blame-remember the finger pointing after God confronts Adam and Eve about eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Young Ones exist in a dystopian world that God seems to have forgotten, but once prayers are answered, the blessings are mixed, and though enriched, the siblings are separate from each other and their former beloved companions. One narrative element didn’t feel believable between Ernest and Caleb before a big event, but it is key. Young Ones is very interesting and ambitious so it is worth watching, but after 40 minutes, don’t be surprised if you start questioning whether Jake Paltrow, the writer and director, should have gone back and spent more time revising. God help me, but I felt bad for the donkey and the machine. Darn Silent Runnings! For all its flaws, give me Young Ones over Interstellar!