Anna Kendrick, Toni Collete (Hereditary), Daniel Day Kim, and Shamier Anderson star as a group of astronauts embarking on a two-year mission to Mars. Everything is going swimmingly, that is until they discover a Stowaway. Anderson’s Michael Adams somehow got trapped inside the rocket while working on it and wound up taking off with the three astronauts Zoe (Kendrick), Marina (Collette), and Kim (Daniel Dae Kim, Lost) ready to make history.
Immediately, there is a problem. There is only enough oxygen for three, not four. A quandary is introduced, and it may not have the most pleasant of endings. Then again, these are highly trained scientists in various fields and perhaps collectively, they can figure out how to fix the problem and ensure that Adams does not have to turn to something drastic, all in the name of the mission and the furtherment of science and humankind.
Stowaway, directed by Joe Penna (who also penned the script with Ryan Morrison), is the most fascinating of science fiction stories. It is rooted deeply in the human spirit and the concepts of life and death and the tough choices that are involved when life hangs in the balance. The overall goal is to push the envelope of science and increase the quality of life for everyone on Earth. There seems to be no other outlet for how this will resolve—suicide by Adams. But Kendrick’s Zoe is determined to find something, anything that will ensure that all four individuals land on Mars safely and continue the international effort to colonize the Red Planet.
This leads to dangerous decisions, but at the heart of it all is the question of how much a life is worth. Risk is weighed, all while incorporating the uniquely humane sentiment that all lives are equal. How does one determine who should perish so that the many can survive? All these questions are strewn throughout Stowaway and handled in such a way that it will lead to massive amounts of thinking long after the film concludes. It’s a moral-driven film that disguises itself as a thrilling science fiction tome.
Science fiction, like horror and other genre film milieu, is fantastic at getting at deep human issues without hitting their audiences over their head. Stowaway does that and then some. It’s all handled by director Penna with just the right touch. The helmer employs an insane ability to capture the tiniest emotional moments within the framework of this tightly cramped ship. He enriches his characters with three-dimensional realities and backgrounds that never go too deep, just deep enough that we keenly understand every single person sitting on that ship and more importantly, the stakes involved as this mission that is so important to humankind could be completely unraveled by the simplest of mistakes. It just goes to show how precise science is and those charged with organizing these missions have things figured out to the exact millimeter. There is little room for error, and it is fascinating to watch the quartet cull their collective scientific brilliant minds together to attempt to find a solution to the life or death situation they are in.
Awaiting them on Mars is the beginnings of a colony and the future of humankind doesn’t necessarily depend on it as we have seen in other movies—such as last week’s Voyagers. That is never discussed. This is simple science looking to push the boundaries of what the human body and the human mind are capable of achieving. In that manner, Penna does an extraordinary job in painting this picture that is anything but clear how it will all play out. Without giving anything away, its ending is wholeheartedly surprising and never seen a million light-years away.
The simplest of concepts—a stowaway on a ship—has been done repeatedly throughout Hollywood history. Rarely have the stakes been so high as they are in Stowaway. Adams wears his responsibility on his sleeve and is the nicest of human beings, which makes it all the more difficult to determine whether he must kill himself in order for the remainder of the crew to stay alive. Zoe refuses until the bitter end. She believes that there is something that no one has thought of yet and it almost drives her crazy. The character’s obsession to save this gentle soul in Adams, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, is downright touching,
How often does that happen in life, sadly?
The performances are top-notch. Each actor knows their character inside and out and when the curveball of a Stowaway is revealed, every soul responds differently. Some callous, some endearingly. It all adds up to something truly special, and wholeheartedly original within the genre of science fiction—which let’s be real, can be kind of stale.
Kendrick shows her range that was first teased opposite George Clooney in Up in the Air. She commands every scene she is in and in many ways, she is our eyes and ears into this situation and her pain is our pain. The actress re-establishes herself as a dramatic actress that earned her an Oscar nomination for Up in the Air and since has been toiling in films such as Pitch Perfect—which is great, don’t get me wrong. It’s just the young actress has supreme talent, and it comes through impeccably in Stowaway.
Collette is her usual sublime self. She is the commander of this mission and is determined that a stowaway is not going to ruin years and years of research and work simply because of a mistake. As the film goes on, she finds a kinship with Adams and she begins to get conflicted. It’s a fascinating study of the human dynamics of leaders and the tough decisions they have to make at a moment’s notice.
Kim (Lost) is the conscious of this crew to a certain point. Then, he becomes the most hardened of realists and realizes that any conclusion to this situation will not end well. There is always hope, but Kim’s performance illustrates that science can only take us so far. Sometimes there are human decisions that need to be made and as such, they stab you in the gut and have you gasping for air. The Korean actor is stoic and sensational, and this was a role that had to be written just for him. He plays it like a glove. There is little separation between his character and himself—he simply gets lost in this scientist whose frustration levels are through the rough. When the oxygen commences being an issue, two years of his hard work for the mission could go down the drain, and let’s just say, he doesn’t take it very well. But don’t get me wrong, Kim is a team player, right to the bitter end.
Anderson is a fresh light. He is humble. He is grateful and most importantly, he keenly knows what he has done to this mission and the three other astronauts on the ship. At one point, he has an injection by his side that would take his life and alleviate the problem. But Kendrick’s Zoe steps in and in what is the moment of the entire film, emotively, puts things in perspective that is downright heavenly. Anderson wears his fear and guilt firmly on his sleeve and as such all of the moral decisions that swirl around the ship, like the earth going around the sun, all add up to something serious that makes you wonder how you would react in the same situation. Who doesn’t adore movies like that? The ability to put your audience literally into a film is a gift and Penna does that in spades.
Grade: A-