A three person crew made up of Zoe Levenson, David Kim and Marina Barnett on a mission to Mars face an impossible choice when an unplanned passenger Michael Adams puts the lives of them all on board at risk.
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Everything seemed to be going well after the take off and launch of the mission with the three person crew all in working order, enough supplies and oxygen for the trip and the plan was more than coming together. Until Michael Adams is discovered on board and badly injured, this causes great panic as the oxygen supplies are for only three people and not four, basically they are instructed that he is not part of the mission and must be killed.
This creates a massive psychological burden for those on board and it really is not that simple to just do it, especially as they get to know Michael and find out that he is the carer for his younger sister and all she has in the world. Not ideal at all now he is on the space craft. Marina is leading the mission and is the one the choice ultimately falls to, for taking the time to come up with a second plan this influences the whole mission as David will no longer be able to do the tests he was supposed to when they get to Mars.
The tension built up throughout the film really is something very impressive as they are tasked with deciding who lives and who dies, especially when it then appears only two of them will be able to live with the carbon dioxide filling the air and not having enough canisters to fight against this.
Considering how excited they were for the mission it really was the worst thing possible to then happen when already in flight, it takes a slightly different approach to other space set films but there really is something special about this type of film right? I personally feel that is because it is something that we will never personally experience. I find it truly fascinating to see what astronauts must go to and the tiny space they will live in for usually a couple of years.
The only issue I ended up having with the film was the abrupt ending which I felt undid a lot of the tension build up and leave you thinking "is that it?" when it could have gone in many different directions. I was seriously thinking that this was a four star film until that and that is why I ended up on three stars.
I love films that have very small casts and something about this space set film was that we don't actually hear anything from mission control, everything from the shuttle side another unique factor really. Toni Collette really can do all types of films can't she? I certainly think that is the case and as always she was impressive. I have always quite liked Anna Kendrick and thought this was a much better type of role than those she has done in recent years, I always feel like she never lived up to the hype I gave her for Up in the Air and a somewhat wasted talent. Daniel Dae Kim was a good factor in the group as well, putting in a very impressive performance. Then we get Shamier Anderson who certainly manages to steal a couple of scenes with a wide range of emotions.
