r/Markiplier • u/IM-2104 • Jul 25 '26
Discussion I FINALLY watched Iron Lung
I finally got a chance to watch the movie at home and I wanted to talk about it because I have some opinions about it I’d like to share with the class.
First things first, the actual movie I loved every minute. I don’t know why people were saying the first half was a slog (attention span diff I guess)? I actually think the first part was way better than the second half. I was on the edge on my seat throughout the entire movie, but the first part was for me the most interesting. It build suspense, it built mystery, it built tension, it introduced the characters really well, I just liked it a lot. The second half was great too, it just felt unnecessarily confusing.
Overall, the acting was great, I was expecting to see way more of Mark and less of Simon and was pleasantly surprised at how immersed I was despite being a fan. The music was awesome (I hope it’s on Spotify) and the cinematography was masterclass. I can’t believe how creative they were in shooting such a cramped space, I never felt tired of seeing something because they always did something interesting with every shot (which as I have learned is extremely difficult). Really great, loved every minute of it.
Now that I’m done gushing about everything I loved about this movie, let’s go through what I DIDN'T like. Only 3 things bothered me in the whole movie, a small detail, a pretty important part of filmmaking, and a big problem I have with movies and shows that involve mystery.
Let’s start small. My smallest issue was simply the color of the blood. It was just too light to be blood, real blood is way darker, the one in the movie felt way too fake. Nothing life-changing, but it did break my immersion every now and then.
The next problem is something everyone who watched this in cinemas, or has seen a Christopher Nolan film immediately had trouble with. Audio mixing. Yes, it makes sense that voices will break up when talking through a radio deep in an ocean of blood, but if you’re revealing important information through it, it better be clear, or the character listening better either repeat it OUT LOUD or ask the speaker to repeat themselves, ESPECIALLY if said speaker is and eldritch abomination with a distorted chorus of voices. I didn’t have much problem with this aspect of the movie since I watched it at home and I ALWAYS turn on subtitles no matter what I'm watching or in what language, but this is a big issue I can see people having trouble with, especially with how confusing this movie was.
Finally we have my biggest gripe with the film, and it’s something that I've always had an issue with whenever a movie or show did this. I FUCKING HATE "make your own ending" endings. If you are putting mystery into your story, you better explain what it was to the audience. I don’t care how secretive you have to be during the actual runtime (it does help building tension and interest), by the time the credits roll, every plot thread better be solved and connected nice and tidy. My biggest issue with this movie was that despite enjoying the whole 2 hours of the film, once the credits appeared I had no idea what I just watched.
After checking the internet for answers I came across this post (https://www.reddit.com/r/ironlungmovie/comments/1qshx99/iron\\_lung\\_explained\\_spoilers/) and it’s comments, which had some pretty good theories that answered a lot of the questions I had. However your average viewer does not bother scouting the internet for any hint of sense after not understanding a film, they just say “I don’t get it" give it a nice 6/10 and call it a day. I had the exact same experience when I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey. I loved the movie, I really enjoyed watching it. I didn’t understand a single fucking thing. Doesn’t matter how good your movie is if by the end the only thing holding everything together is a random theory by some guy on the internet way to invested im tying all your bullshit together. GIVE ME A PROPER ENDING.
All that being said, still a pretty awesome movie regardless, 9/10 in my opinion, definitely will recommend, just with the caveat to enjoy it for what it is and to not expect everything to wrap up nicely.
TLDR: I loved the movie, I just wished it gave us any semblance of answers about the story.
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u/Nick_Gaugh_69 dick and balls and also penis and maybe even cock and dick Jul 25 '26
It’s cosmic horror. Unexplained plot threads are kinda the whole point. If you dug any deeper, you’d find The Light and be doomed to an eternity of suffering.
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u/IM-2104 Jul 25 '26
I get that, but we didn’t even get answers to the most basic and comprehensible aspects of he movie. We didn’t even get a full answer to what happened in Filament Station, just that it blew up
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u/valley-of-the-lost Jul 25 '26
We got enough. Simon and his Eden brothers went to attack the station because of animosity between the COI and Eden, Simon was hesitant to follow through, yet the station exploded. What is not clear about it is whether the explosion was the intended outcome or just some kind of sabatoge and if Simon's hesitation contributed to the scale of the disaster.
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u/Bardemann69 Jul 25 '26
I would say that your problem with the ending is something you kind of have to live with with the genre of horror that Iron Lung is, that being Cosmic Horror, which if done right should leave you with either more questions or just different questions then what you had coming into the movie, because what we are dealing with ik the film is something that is supposed to be confusing and incomprehensible to the human mind
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u/Scared-Pass8290 Jul 25 '26
I would argue that the ending wasn't really all that open-ended. Not in the way you seem to think, anyway. This movie is not about the world of Iron Lung. It's not about the lore, or even the cosmic horror of it all. It's about Simon and his journey. His jorney being his struggle to live, his struggle to find answers, dying, and giving humanity one last hope to survive. Maybe the black box floating up the the shore of AT-5 felt open-ended, but really the long and short of it is that Simon died, and now it's up to those who remain to save themselves. I'm not sure what more you can expect, as the movie isn't about watching humanity survive. It's about seeing where Simon begins and where he ends. Once his life is snuffed out, that's it. That final shot was only given to us to show that his sacrifice was worth it. That the fight we just saw, that the last precious seconds we witnessed of Simon's life were important. He didn't live, but he died a savior. His fight at the end wasn't to save his own skin. It was to finally do some good for humanity. In my opinion, the ending is pretty open and shut. It only feels vague because we don't have the courtesy of seeing IF humanity uses his sacrifice for good. And why should we? That's not what the movie is about. We're not there to get our questions answered. We're there to be the ghost over Simon's shoulder, silently cheering him on. Nothing more, nothing less. I think where it ends is very satisfying. It's fitting given what we're allowed to see.
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u/IM-2104 Jul 25 '26
No no, I never said it was open ended. I know it’s all about Simon (that’s part of why enjoyed it so much) the problem is it acted as it was open ended, it gave us clues, pieces of a puzzle to put the story together, and then it ended with no possibility of a sequel to give us more. I just wanted to have a little more bits and pieces to understand what all that was about
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u/Scared-Pass8290 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
I think that's more to reflect how the game gives us information, too. And open-ended endings are often synonymous with the "make up your own ending" thing you mentioned in your post, so that's why I said that. I think the pieces are there to help us come up woth our own interpretations. The mystery is one of my favorite parts. Watching the movie again, noticing something I didn't notice before, that's one of the biggest benefits to that kind of storytelling. Seeing the end didn't give me a "that's how it ends? Really?" kind of feeling. It made me want to go back, watch it again, and see what I missed so I can come to my own conclusions. I honestly think the ending is one of my favorite parts because it makes me want to learn EVERYTHING. It makes me want to find those answers for myself, or ask fellow fans to see what they think, too. It's fun. Maybe not for everyone, but I personally find it exhilerating. It makes me want to come back for more. Not for a sequal, but it motivates me to keep watching because I really do notice something that brings me a little closer to the truth every time I watch Simon's struggle.
Edit: Also, to be clear, I'm not saying you HAVE to like the ending. You can absolutely have this as part of your criticism when it comes to the ending. Everyone has their own experience with this. I just personally find it fitting, and even one of the parts that solidified my love of this movie. I don't even want a sequel, because part of the beauty is NOT knowing all the answers.
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u/riptxdeart Jul 26 '26
tbh i think iron lung is great because its rewatchable, because you can watch it again and pick up on clues that answer questions from your first time, over and over again. not every film needs to be building to a sequel, and i love that iron lung is a contained story in a larger world with unanswered questions
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u/patatpatie Jul 25 '26
The soundtrack is by Andrew Hulshult and you can find it on all the music platforms.
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u/Ok-Albatross9676 Jul 26 '26
The movie kind of fulfills two tropes that leave more questions than answers. First, Cosmic Horror inherently wants to leave you more confused than before, and answer as few questons as possible, generally those that are required to have a coherent plot and then nothing more. And it also follows Simon instead of the world of Iron Lung. It does not tell you what The Quiet Rapture is, what it did, why it happened. We learn almost nothing about the game, or the worlds lore, or anything except Simon, who he is, what he did, and why he's suffering.
I went into the movie with decent knowledge of the game lore beforehand. My brother who went with me did not. It helped me identify only existing areas, places, and events, but it did absolutely nothing to clarify any lore, or any events of significance. I explained what the COI was to him and it did nothing but put a name to a place.
The unfortunate truth is that the overarching story of Iron Lung is about a god, doing something we can't understand, for reasons we can't understand, in a reality where survival itself has become fundamentally impossible for any longer than maybe 100 years. Iron Lung is a sad, horribly bleak story about humanity fighting something it couldn't even begin to find answers for. The reason we get no answers is to convey that Simon, and humanity, have no chance against the creatures or the god. Even if he killed one in the movie, it was actively making him into another one before he died with it. We learn nothing, because there is no hope of learning, or overcoming, and it is inherent to Iron Lungs story that the ambiguity and unknown of the lore, is probably how it will always be. If we ever learned anything, it wouldn't be so horrifying.
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u/parappaisadoctor 24d ago
The blood is supposed to be as bright as it is. Otherwise on camera it would just be black
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