Space Sweepers – Emotional Space Adventure
Director: Sung-hee Jo
Starring: Song Joong-Ki, Kim Tae-ri, Seon-Kyu Jin, Hae-jin Yoo, Richard Armitage
Plot: Set in the year 2092 and follows the crew of a space junk collector ship called The Victory. When they discover a humanoid robot named Dorothy that’s known to be a weapon of mass destruction, they get involved in a risky business deal.
Runtime: 2 Hours 16 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Space Sweepers starts as we enter the world of 2092, humanity is left living in poverty, with the wealthy moving to space cities around Earth, created by Sullivan (Armitage). Tae-ho (Joong-Ki) works as the pilot of space junk collecting ship The Victory, under Captain Jang (Tae-ri), Tiger (Jin) and robot Buds, one of the most feared group in space.
When the group are on their latest salvage, they find an android that looks like a little girl, Dorothy (Yoo), one that is used as a deadly explosive by the terrorist groups in the world. The crew find themselves caught up in the middle of a get rich scheme with Dorothy, which is only expose the nature of the new world.
Thoughts on Space Sweepers
Characters & Performances – Tae-ho is a former soldier, a father searching for his lost daughter in space, struggling to pay the debts he owes. He is the pilot on a junk collecting spaceship and brings a human connection to Dorothy when they find her. He will do anything to protect Dorothy, even though he has lost he killer instinct from being a soldier. He is the heart and soul of the crew, the clue which keeps them together. Song Joong-Ki is great to watch in this role, with his character having the biggest story involved in the film. Captain Jang is the ultra cool leader of the group, she knows how to handle any difficult situation and has a back story, which only enforces her kick ass attitude. Kim Tae-ri is the strong leader the crew need with her performance. Tiger Park is the engineer on the spacecraft, his past will have him seen as a loose cannon, he shows a carrying side for Dorothy too, he is tough as nails character. Seon-kyu Jin is great to watch as the hard man with a heart of gold. Dorothy is the android girl the crew find, she was built for one reason making her one of the most dangerous pieces of equipment in the universe. Buds is the robot that loves using the harpoon on the missions, this character will get the most laughs, without being fully comic relief, a great addition to the crew. Sullivan is the mastermind who built the cities in the sky, looking to help humanity regrow, only he has a bigger motivation for his actions. We could have seen a lot more of this character, as he falls into the background of the bigger picture we are seeing.
Story – The story here follows a crew of space pirates who are traveling around collecting space junk discover an android girl that turns out to be a weapon of mass destruction that needs protecting. This is a film with a story that gets a lot bigger than you would imagine from the outside looking in. we get to see a crew of misfits that compliment each other to be known as the best in their field, going up against everyone who wants the android girl. The story is big and dives into a lot of different themes of pollution, population and resources, looking at how people might look to deal with the problems. The story does end up giving us a great sense of adventure and doesn’t take anytime at all to throw us into the world.
Themes – Space Sweepers is a sci-fi adventure film set in the not to distant future, taking us into a world devastated by pollution and population, adapted to live around the space above the Earth. The Earth looks depressive, dark, dingy and ravished by the environmental changes, while the space locations are filled with the beauty you would like to see on Earth. The moments in space look amazing with the harpoon sequences breath taking to watch.
Space Sweepers is truly an enjoyable adventure movie that doesn’t hold back on the bigger emotional impact in the film.