Courtney Corda

The set design of the polar stations, spaceship and the rendering of planet k-23 are eye candy enough to bump this from 2 stars to 3. Plus the actors and the characters they play are all such lovely people. The movie is so full of improbabilities, however, that it’s very hard to stay in the story, and I’m not talking just about the suspension of disbelief required for the premise of the space mission (as if it’s possible that an inhabitable moon of Jupiter could exist, hidden, until now). Augustine overcomes so many implausible obstacles during his trek to the second space station that one wonders why Medusa and the Sirens were left out. Why was so much time spent of physical challenges both by Augustine on Earth and the crew in space when the true, core dilemma of the film is the choice the astronauts face in the last couple of minutes. That debate and weighing of possibilities should have anchored the movie and been explored a lot more deeply than it was. The movie is a bit like a roller coaster that has lots and lots of little drops but no signature event. As a thriller it’s a dud. As a psychological drama it’s a dud. But it’s still worth seeing for the great visuals especially for free on Netflix when you’ve nothing else to do during a pandemic shelter in place. But first, watch Gravity, The Grey, The Martian, or even, quite frankly, Disney’s Eight Below.