It’s time to check out a sci-fi film that came out a while back and got a ton of buzz. Sci-Fi is one of those genres that can be really good when used right. You get to see characters running around with giant energy guns, using advanced suits of armor, etc. It all blends together to make for a really good experience but then you have other titles which forego all of the cool elements and try to go for some deep storytelling and lore. Unfortunately this one unsuccessfully tries for that angle a whole lot and ends up being a bit of a drawn out mess.

The movie begins by explaining that the Sun is slowly being taken down by an army of powerful organisms. They are smaller than the normal eye can see but they are shutting down every star in the system. Ryland is contacted by the world’s unified agency which is trying to save the planet. After all if the Sun goes out, then Earth has no more hope left. Ryland is super skeptical about going to space but when he wakes up after stasis, he is the final survivor. It is all up to him now but can he really claim victory here?

You can tell that the government was desperate since it’s not like Ryland really had too many answers here. He just has one breakthrough but sometimes that is where science can start. So a lot of the film is really split between a bunch of flashbacks where we see what happened and how Ryland got into space. He has amnesia in the present which is always a convenient way to avoid spoiling the flashbacks. Then in the present he takes a while to get used to the gameplan after some initial panicking.

I feel like the story was mostly concealed for the trailers so I’ll avoid too many of the specifics but the film’s story takes a pretty big change when he is no longer struggling by himself in space. Unfortunately I would say it wasn’t a great development to turn things around. This is actually a film where I dare say it could have been improved by a bit of romance or at least some banter with another humanoid running around. The romance would have probably been rushed so the latter would be preferable.

This film falls into the issues that most films have when there is only one main character. It can be rather boring. This is a long film that feels like a very long film and that’s always a problem. You will have very long scenes of the film trying to show off is special effects or panning around the spaceship to show you how accurate it is. That will probably appeal to some space fans but I’m really just here for a lot of excitement and quick pacing. It never goes to the absurd lengths of 2001: A Space Odyssey at least.

That will always go down as being the worst sci-fi film. That said, this one could have easily shaved off 30-40 minutes and been in a better space. Any Ryland scene from when he first wakes up is annoying as he just acts drunk the whole time. Again this is the film trying to show how realistic it is since you would be out of sorts with amnesia waking up after a super long coma but these are the kinds of details that you don’t need.

The pacing is at a glacial pace and again that is because we didn’t have other characters to bounce off of. This is one of those few examples where I can say that the flashbacks were far more interesting than the present day stuff. We got to see the governments working together, some shady stuff, and most importantly just a lot of dialogue back and forth. I would have liked it if every scene was on Earth and we just direct the people in space on how to save the Sun. You could still have a lot of tension with communications going out or the countries starting to fight each other which causes a lot of issues.

In space the best chance for you to enjoy the film is if you enjoy a friendship that occurs up there. Unfortunately the character they chose just isn’t all that interesting. This is one of those cases where I would say the design is partially at fault here because there is just nothing you can really do with that. You’ll just be shaking your head at the big reveal. It’s not like this is the first time a story has gone in this direction. There are a decent amount of similar designs out there but they never really tend to be all that cool.

At least I didn’t really have any issues with the main character. He did pretty well in his experiments and I also thought he made the right call in running for it during one of the flashbacks. I do think he could have fought a whole lot harder but it’s not like this guy is a trained fighter. So I didn’t want to be too harsh on him or anything like that.

Ultimately the film is going for a bit of an upbeat vibe. There is a body count to be sure and you could say it’s implied that things are much worse than what we see but the characters never lose hope. Ryland keeps his head down and works hard throughout. He may have personally lost hope at some points but would still get back up there. Personally being in a space ship so far away from home would be absolutely terrifying so just being able to get past that is a good look for him.

The advice I’d give for this film is just similar to what I put for After-Earth. In any sci-fi film you should try to keep at least some of the basic concepts around or you are wasting the whole point of being a sci-fi. There should be cool aliens, great looking backgrounds of sci-fi locations that don’t exist in real life, cool weapons, etc.

This film doesn’t have much of that. In many ways you could do this film without the sci-fi part The whole Sun part could still be around with normal radiation hitting it or something and then the rocket ride. So if you are going to go the sci-fi route, then I’d say go all the way and just make it a blast. Also we don’t need the lingering shots in space and all that. Space all tends to look the same after a while and we need the pacing to stay fast.

Overall, I would definitely give this one a pass. The plot has an interesting premise with the Sun going out but then the rest of the execution just falls apart. The film is way too long and loses sight of the number one objective, which is to remain entertaining at all times. It just doesn’t prioritize being fun and doesn’t make for a satisfying watch. I did appreciate the Football terminology though. I would always go for the Hail Mary in Madden and it’s honestly a great play to run on 1st and 10 because nobody ever expects it.

Overall 4/10