Vague Visages’ Colossal Wreck review contains minor spoilers. Josh Appignanesi’s 2025 documentary features himself and Paul Goodenough. Check out the VV home page for more film criticism, movie reviews and film essays.

Josh Appignanesi’s Colossal Wreck is a stone-cold commentary about humanity and the redemptive power of cinema. The English documentarian — who once again takes another big leap forward in his career — travels to the Middle East to discuss his 2023 film My Extinction at COP28 (2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference) and subsequently tries to determine if Dubai could be a forum for meaningful change. Furthermore, he wonders if humanity will fade away as we collectively experience a “sober inebriation” while being seduced by life itself and self-serving trends. Based on the novelistic nature of Colossal Wreck, with all its rich philosophical meditations about ego and personal connections, Appignanesi’s growing filmography seems to be a cinematic vessel for meaningful change.

In Colossal Wreck, Appignanesi documents Dubai like the great Michelangelo Antonioni films Italy in his so-called “alienation trilogy” — L‘Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961) and L’Eclisse (1962). And the somewhat intimidating narration, courtesy of Artificial Intelligence, implies that the documentarian is both present and absent. “I disavow the original Josh,” says AI Appignanesi, who is fully aware that it’s irresponsible to ignore the colonial history of the real man’s beloved London while figuratively slapping Dubai on the wrist (or body as a whole). He focuses on the city’s reputation as a gathering place for powerful business moguls and tech innovators with empty hearts, but he also looks inward to theorize about the bigger picture, and what well-intentioned culture workers can accomplish without significant financial assistance. Appignanesi’s writing is so philosophically sharp and evocative that Colossal Wreck could be effective as an audiobook.

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As The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw points out in his Colossal Wreck review, not many people have filmed Dubai like Appignanesi. He’s constantly looking ahead and upward, all the while suggesting that the city is nothing more than a seductive simulation. Appignanesi documents an idealized version of Dubai, one that’s been cleaned up specifically for COP28. As the filmmaker incorporates his usual dry humor and self-deprecating commentaries, there’s a chilling aspect to his AI narration, most notably while addressing the consistent flash floods that seemingly get ignored by the media. After all, who wants to see Dubai’s dirty laundry? As with previous films, Appignanesi repeatedly compares himself to others and questions his career accomplishments, which might feel a bit redundant and/or annoying in a traditional documentary format. But the use of AI narration creates an unnerving viewing experience in the best way possible, almost like AI Appignesesi stands atop the largest building in the world (Dubai’s Burj Khalifa) like a God, warning his human self about all the things he knows that can’t be explained to humans through words.

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To some viewers, Colossal Wreck might seem like a train-of-thought ramble about the end of the world. And that idea alone is fascinating, as Appignanesi’s film is actually structured rather impeccably. On a macro level, he begins by positioning Dubai’s skyline as a mirror for the world. Later, on a micro level, he reaches an epiphany about the most important mirror of all and the significance of its existence. Also, the documentarian frequently returns to the concept of “deprogramming” his brain, which in turn allows him to see the surrounding world more clearly, for better or worse. Appignanesi may indeed feel “solipsistic” and “stuck in the green zone” at times, but his continued cinematic exploration of ego and technology in the modern world suggests that he’s found creative freedom by investigating our collective unconscious, and what it’s trying to tell us about the future.

Colossal Wreck released in the United Kingdom on November 7, 2025 via Dartmouth Films.

Q.V. Hough (@QVHough) is Vague Visages’ founding editor. Thank you for reading film criticism, movie reviews and film essays at Vague Visages.

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