Stowaway

Stowaway (2021)

Image From IMDB

Sometimes you want nothing more than a good, dependable, well acted, and solidly directed sci-fi, and Stowaway is exactly that. It’s essentially a single location movie with a cast of four who all really turn up. The concept is simple, and the presentation clean. I really liked this one.

Stowaway is about a mission to Mars which goes awry when an additional member of the crew is found. It was originally meant to be just the three of them, but a maintenance worker accidentally ends up on the ship having had an incident before launch––i’m not debating how he got drilled into the roof panel, its just the setup.

Events unfold and equipment breaks down and basically they barely have enough air for three people, let alone four, so… sorry new guy. I think what I liked most about this one was they didn’t take the easy way out. The drama was in the fact that the newbie was a kind honest guy rather than some fucking psycho. They wouldn’t be killing someone to defend themselves, nor was he running amok. It was a decision purely based on the fact that there wasn’t enough air––I was worried thoughout that he had manipulated his way onto the ship, but fear not.

The film had a moral complexity to it with everyone taking different logical and thoughtful viewpoints. A Captain, Doctor, and Scientist, all smart caring people, who don’t want to be in this position… but the clocks ticking. Anna Kendrick was particularly great within this situation playing the voice I like to think I’d have in this impossible scenario.

I loved the opening sequence to this film as well. An up close and personal view of the crew as the rocket took off and blasted them into space. It felt like such a unique way to show the scene, and get around adding an extra few million to the small budget. That opening scene is the stuff modern cinema generally misses. Those creative solution. When everything cost a hundred million plus you don’t need to be this creative, but you should be. Joe Penna really is an incredibly capable and creative director––enjoyed Artic too.

The pace through-out the film is deliberate, concentrating on human drama and building towards the inevitable decision rather than any needless action scenes. And when the final set piece does arrive it’s truly spectacular and very tense. The film really does look gorgeous.

I’m generally not a big fan of made for Netflix movies as they often feel overblown and don’t look like cinema, but I enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would. It looked great. The direction and acting was superb. And, I always like these moral question movies. Done right, they’re always very intriguing, and this one was definitely done right.