Dir. Phil Lord & Christopher Miller


⭐️⭐️1/2

⚠️Spoilers ahead⚠️

This new science-fiction film follows Grace, a scientist who finds himself alone on a spaceship to save Earth from freezing to extinction.

The creative camera work, daring colours, and detailed production design are the clear standouts. The way the camera movements are used not only to transition from the present to the past, but also to convey the character’s mental state, is marvellous. It also has some undeniable heart-warming moments, especially when Grace is first connecting with Rocky, the alien he meets, over their shared loss.

However, its stunning technical aspects might not be enough to make it the instant classic everyone’s making it out to be.

The story structure and rhythm feel clunky; when you think it is over, there is a new twist. This leads to it having essentially three different endings and no real, satisfying climax. There are promising ideas presented, but they are killed off in uninspired ways before they can turn into anything special. For example, having Grace’s alien friend Rocky’s native language translated into English through a computer, which, by the way, isn’t how translating works. You can’t just say a word in your language to someone who doesn’t understand it and then label whatever random word they say in their own language as their word for what you said. It could be more compelling and creative if they go with them using math to communicate, or have them learn each other’s language in a realistic way. As the film goes on, the scientific explanations also go from believable to nonsensical, like how we are constantly reminded that Rocky will die in air with oxygen, but then he somehow survives it later in the film…

Finally, the characters’ psychology is barely explored in depth. For example, there could be more background as to why the protagonist doesn’t want to go to space, or why he has such a conformist attitude even though he clearly has so much to offer. Another case is the woman leading the mission, played by Sandra Hüller. We barely discover anything about her. She has interesting character moments, like when she karaokes the Harry Styles song, or when the seriousness of the situation forces her to send Grace to space against his will, but they are never expanded on. The main focus of the film is clearly the humour, which I have nothing against. The comedy isn’t exactly the most original out there; it moves between light-hearted and annoyingly cheesy. It could hit harder if there were just a stronger emotional backbone to sustain it.

In conclusion, besides its misleading trailer that presents it as much more serious than it is, I don’t consider it a bad film at all—it is entertaining and has amazing visuals—but I think the public’s overly positive reaction has been a little much for what the actual material is.