In the movie titled, “The Space Between US,” the story revolves around the story of a boy who is born on Mars after his mother dies during childbirth. The CEO of the fake space company (called Genesis) is played by Gary Oldman. Oldman’s character makes a split second decision to leave the newborn male on #Mars to avoid the unavoidable PR disaster that would fall upon his company show word get out of this blunder. The film then moves sixteen years into the future and the wide-eyed Asa Butterfield is revealed as the child who has grown up in a very unconventional environment.
Longing to know more about father and Earth, he manages to sneak away from Mars to do some exploring. But will his body be able to survive the trip and once he gets there will be fit in?
A story that could be interesting becomes convoluted
The idea of setting a story in space is not something groundbreaking but what drew me to the film was the concept of seeing someone born there. As advancements in space exploration continue to occur, I thought this movie seemed like a possible scenario. For the first half act of the movie, the story does a decent job of establishing characters and also setting the mood. However, as soon as the movie enters present-day, the plot changes from a story that had substance to yet another odd coming of age movie.
The boy meets a girl online (played by Britt Robertson) and of course, that is one of the determining factors for him wanting to go to Earth. We are told several times that Butterfield’s character has been raised by #scientists and that he is incredibly smart but the story seems to contradict its own statement by making this character incredibly naïve.
Also, the amount of clichés that are thrown into this film, including the ever popular road trip also takes away from what could have been a great story.
The tone of the movie is not consistent
Tone is one of the most important aspects of a film. The way in which the camera is angled, the music used and the type of colors employed are just some of the devices that can be utilized to express a certain situation.
This movie never seems to get the tone quite right. In one scene a character will get horrible news and then two seconds later, that character will be shot with blue skies in the background. If you get Earth shattering news, blue and clear skies is not something that anyone would associate with that. The music also does not help propel the story forward because the song choices are too obvious for the situation at hand. When a dramatic moment occurs, there is a crescendo of string instruments that remind me of a “Full House” episode. The movie could have salvaged itself if it delved deeper into some of the ethical questions that it brings. Mainly the idea of the greater good versus exploration and ambition. The film had some great ideas but it never quite took off.
