“Stowaway” (2021) / Z-View
Stowaway (2021)
Director: Joe Penna
Screenplay: Joe Penna, Ryan Morrison
Stars: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson.
The Pitch: “Let’s update Lifeboat, but do it in space!”
Tagline: Millions of miles from home, survival comes with sacrifice.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
About 12 hours into (and past the point of no return of) a two year mission to Mars, the three person astronaut team discovers a man unconscious and badly bleeding. The accidental stowaway is a launch support engineer who was making last minute preflight checks before liftoff when he was injured. In order to make the journey to Mars, the ship was equipped with just the essentials to ensure the safety of the three astronauts. Now with four on board, the question of survival of all comes into play.
Shamier Anderson is excellent as Michael Anderson, the accidental stowaway. His realization that he is the odd man out on a journey he hasn’t been trained for, nor wanted plays out beautifully though his facial expressions and body language. Toni Collette plays Marina Barnett, the ship’s Captain who will have to make the ultimate decisions about who lives or dies. Daniel Dae Kim is the team’s biologist, David Kim and most pragmatic/logical of the team. Anna Kendrick plays Zoe Levenson, the ship’s doctor and medical researcher.
Initially, they believe that by rationing and conservation of supplies, the trip can be made by four instead of three. Then they discover that their carbon dioxide scrubber isn’t working. They will be pushing it to have enough oxygen for three. Now, faced with decisions that will effect not only the mission, but the lives of every person on board, the four must come to grips with the reality of the situation. Not everyone will survive the journey and as things worsen, the question becomes not of who will survive, but will any of them survive.
Stowaway is well acted and contains excellent special effects. The tension mounts as the movie progresses and presents itself as more of a morality drama then action/adventure. As for me, I liked it and rate it 3 out of 5 stars.
