The less you know about Voyagers the better the overall experience. I somehow managed to avoid even seeing a trailer! So, there will be much to discuss about this surprisingly, heck shockingly, stunning film that just blew me away… but none of it will involve too many plot details.
There is something familiar about the initial premise, but where it goes from there is a haunting portrayal of what it means to be a human being to the core.
It’s the near future and Earth has had just about enough of us and our messy ways. Good news: Scientists have found a habitable planet. Bad news: It will take only 86 years to get there. It’s our best hope for the human race’s future, so this is happening. The question becomes how does this work? How it works involves those who start the mission will not be the ones who complete it.
Writer-director Neil Burger (Divergent, The Illusionist) has produced a film that is one of those pictures that stay with you and will have you looking inward and outward for days after the Colin Farrell, Tye Sheridan, and Lily-Rose Depp starring film concludes. Voyagers makes one think about a myriad of issues, most centered on what innately drives the average human and whether that can be controlled—no matter the level of control one has over the environment.
Farrell is Richard, the leader of this mission. Some might even label him the patriarch of this crew. He’s been there for each member since the beginning. Sheridan’s Christopher and Depp’s Sela are members of that group, a collective who keenly knows that one, the fate of humanity hangs on their shoulders, and two, that they are merely the first part… it is in fact their grandchildren who will put boots to the ground on humanity’s new home.
Now, there have been some—rightfully—comparisons to Lord of the Flies with Voyagers. Without giving away plot points, the rawer nature of human nature has a way of rearing its head when a group of people is facing extreme stress, particularly young folks. There’s an “X” factor here as well. When that is removed, the combination of youthful vigor, previously kept in check sexual urges, and lack of leadership gets sucked right into that vacuum that is an absence of guidance.
There is something uniquely ironic about what occurs on the ship that is spearheading the effort to save the human race as it speeds further and further away from our current home. This crew was literally “bred” for this mission as the best of us and it may be the worst of us that is innate to every human being that poses an enormous threat to whether we have a future.
Farrell sets the stage for whether this entire endeavor works or not. He has a way of framing his motivations as ours with his characterization of Richard that puts us on a flight path with a fate that may not be the one he envisioned. There was a lot of precautions considered with this crew when it came to external forces that could literally undo this mission—whether they alien, ship malfunction, food, and resource scarcity—but when it came to the biggest threat, it is not exactly clear that anyone could have predicted that the potential biggest threat to the mission could come from within.
Why would they?
That is fascinating because curiosity is not only something that runs through the veins of all scientists, but it’s a uniquely human trait that has been a part of our existence since the first souls ventured beyond their caves. It is this quality that first laid the seed for our space program when a legion of like-minded souls looked up and wondered. The old saying, “curiosity killed the cat” could apply here in that it is an inquiry that paves the road to an unraveling.
All of these aspects will surely have viewers thinking about every single element that makes a human being a human being and whether it’s alright to still love us as a species, so-called “warts and all.” We’re seeing it now with the pandemic. A certain sci-fi classic once brought up the idea of the needs of the many outweighing those of the few. That sentiment should be gospel. Yet, throughout the Coronavirus and its attack on humanity, selfish souls have made things worse than they ever needed to be and as such, lives have been lost, altered, and changed forever. Those on the ship in Voyagers are the few and the many is everyone else left on earth that will eventually be sending future generations to their new home. In a storyline that is right out of today’s headlines, whether we survive as a species lies solely in the hands of an inexperienced (i.e., youthful) crew whose deep-seated emotional pendulums are only now being fully formed physiologically. Look at the ‘Rona numbers currently. Who’s driving those infection rates up?
Those are the same folks that inhabit that ship heading to our new home.
It’s great to see Farrell in a role that is in many ways thankless. The actor, who used to be a go-to leading man, comfortably slips into the part of supporting the ensemble that is the crew of this ship. His performance is sublime, and it is his character that also serves as a benchmark for how others conduct themselves. The Irish actor turns in one of his more subtle turns in some time and it is pitch-perfect for what Burger needed from the part.
Sheridan and Depp are dynamite. But they are merely the tip of the iceberg that is the ensemble of the crew. Each and every one has to be a fully fleshed-out individual for the drama to carry the weight that it does. In particular, Fionn Whitehead’s turn as Zac is electrically explosive. It is a role that as written, could have had its actor chewing scenery. Instead, Whitehead (Dunkirk) is literally a human being unleashed. He takes it about as far as he possibly can and is largely why Voyagers is simultaneously tense, thrilling, and frustrating (in the best of ways).
Depp (The King) continues to impress and move away from her father’s (Johnny Depp) rather large shadow. Sheridan (Ready Player One) needs to be many things to many people and for the most part, succeeds. There are a few moments where he needs to show a bit more emotion than he does, but then again… that is how these “kids” are wired.
Burger has truly gone leaps and bounds beyond where he was as a storyteller with his latest. The way he works within the confined environment of a spaceship, while still instilling fear and trepidation (and occasionally hope) is extremely effective. Cinematography-wise, there is a 2001: A Space Odyssey feel to Voyagers and that is never a bad thing. OK, so it is like Lord of the Flies… meets 2001, and it works.
Grade: A-