Cast:
Ryan Gosling (Dr. Ryland Grace), Sandra Hüller (Eva Stratt), James Ortiz (the voice and lead puppeteer of Rocky), Lionel Boyce (Officer Carl), Ken Leung (Yáo Li-Jie), Milana Vayntrub (Olesya Ilyukhina), Priya Kansara (the voice of Mary), Liz Kingsman (Annie Shapiro), Mia Soteriou (Dr. Browne), and Orion Lee (Dr. Li) Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (#540 - The Lego Movie, #568 - 21 Jump Street, #940 - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs)
Review:
Sure, a space adventure worth seeing in a movie theater. You might remember that the last adaptation of an Andy Weir novel adaptation came around with The Martian back in 2015 that had Drew Goddard write the screenplay that dealt with one man trying to deal with the tough circumstances of being adrift in space (I will be honest in saying I haven't watched The Martian since that one screening). Oh, and I suppose there is plenty of science-spelunking (my word, not the words of the movie) in trying to deal with basically being a one-human show. Actually, I take that back, there are a few other differences (namely in that this film mostly spends its time adrift in space with a parallel narrative about regaining one's memory*), but it really did come to mind when hearing about this movie (I don't do "buzz heard from other people", I barely have friends to recommend movies so "screw it" is the way to go). The "hard science fiction" novel was published in 2021 with a clear interest in real science and, well, themes in isolation (for further information involving one look at what looks like science and what looks like science fiction, you can inquire here) that had rumblings of a film adaptation almost immediately. This feature (distributed by Amazon MGM Studios*) is the first film directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller since 22 Jump Street way back in 2014, having been busy in producing films. Evidently, there are a bit of differences between the novel and the film (one involves the reasoning being modified from one of biology to one of happenstance), but so it goes.
It is a decent movie, mainly when you feel that there is something worth enjoying in its odyssey. It looks upon the future and tries to present it as something to figure out rather than fear that might be worth 156 minutes of time. It isn't so much the quest for figuring out what one is going to do about star eaters and the sun because it really is a film of relationships and figuring out the how and why of things mattering. It just happens to have a bit of puppetry that also isn't too infested with fake sets (to throw you a curveball, maybe it would make a neat pairing in one-man sustainment with Cast Away [2000]). It all rests on Gosling's shoulders to basically show him finding a true friend among the stars. Well, you might say there are friendly moments on Earth, but I think the stuff between him and "Rocky" is fascinating, mainly in that slowburn of getting communication down number by number. Ortiz (as head puppeteer of a character with a handful of puppets) and his riffing with Gosling has a certain type of warmth that basically does work better than if it was Gosling interacting with a guest voice. That's not to say that the moments spent with Hüller* are ho-hum, because she does make a compelling figure of pragmatic grace before, well, having a neat little scene involving karaoke that basically makes the last we see of them and Gosling all the more compelling in where it ends up. I can't exactly tell why the movie doesn't quite reach greatness (or get around to the level of say, Interstellar [2014]), which I guess comes down to it just being an adequate crowd-pleaser over being a really involving one, particularly at a certain point when the familiarity element becomes all too apparent. To be "goofy" can be a blessing or a curse depending on what you think the word means. At least the ending is suitable enough to make the trip worth it when it comes to figuring out what actually matters in being more than just one person among the universe. As a whole, it's a pleasantly fine charmer for where it wants to go in entertainment value within sentimental commitment that leads to a few good chuckles and some hope within its adventure that will be reasonably satisfying for those who know what they are getting into.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
*Yes, I forgot Amazon MGM was a thing. Also, they only distributed it in America and Canada, Sony Pictures Releasing International is everywhere else.
*Not to spoil much, but, one wonders, regardless of how petty or ridiculous that this sounds, if the first thing that a person in Grace's shoes would do if they somehow managed to get back to Earth after all they went through and managed to find Stratt...to just immediately punch them in the face. What?
*She is a licensed forklift operator. No, really.
*Audience count for my Wednesday afternoon screening: zero. Oh well.
