Most films about NASA or astronauts in space have starred, White people or White men. If one is telling a historically accurate story, such as Apollo 13 (1995) or First Man (2018), then having a cast of White men is appropriate and in fact necessary. A Million Miles Away (2023) put a Latino in the center but it was also telling a true story that necessitated the casting. Ever since Star Trek (1966), science-fiction properties have had diverse casts of actors. Yet, the majority have had men as the leads or protagonists. Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) and James Cameron's subsequent Aliens (1986) put a woman in the forefront in a significant way on the big screen, if not for the first time. Discounting television, men of color got a chance to lead science-fiction flicks, such as Laurence Fishburne in Event Horizon (1997). A woman of color got a chance in The Cloverfield Paradox (2018). Unfortunately, that film was dropped from Paramount Pictures and denied a theatrical release, shifting to Netflix instead. This film could be the first to have a woman of color and in fact a queer woman of color as the lead of a sci-fi, space genre. It's a shame that this film, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, doesn't do much with it.
Ariana DeBose (West Side Story and Hamilton) stars as Kira Foster, an astronaut and scientist on a mission that is taking her to the International Space Station to spend some time. She has a girlfriend or rather she had one. She broke up with her female partner due to infidelity. Now, she's focusing on her work, which involves studying the affects of mice in space, specifically how it might affect their bodies in the process of organ replacement or transplants. Unfortunately, this film doesn't do much with this aspect of Kira's experiences on board the station. The film quickly advances into what the essential conflict will be, and that's the fact that Kira and her fellow astronauts on board the station will be pitted against the cosmonauts who are also on board.
Pilou Asbaek (Game of Thrones and A Hijacking) plays Alexey Pulov, a cosmonaut who is also a Russian scientist. He's on board the station with his older brother, Nicholai, played by Costa Ronin (Homeland and The Americans). The only thing that we get about who they are is that Alexey isn't as dutiful as his brother. It's possibly due to his older brother having military training or experience. Unlike Nicholai, Alexey won't simply follow orders blindly. Unfortunately, this film doesn't build up much of their relationship. In fact, it might not even come across that they are brothers, as that bond isn't felt as strongly as it perhaps should have been in this narrative.
Chris Messina (Air and Argo) co-stars as Gordon Barrett, the astronaut who seems to be the senior-most member of the Americans on board. He seems to be the de facto leader or the one in charge on their side. He's also having a secret affair with one of the cosmonauts, the only female cosmonaut, Weronika Vetrov aka "Nika," played by Masha Mashkova (For All Mankind). We get a little bit about Gordon and Nika's relationship, but it's really the bare minimum to establish but perhaps not enough to make us really care about it.
Despite DeBose being the lead here, it's Messina who is involved in the majority of the action in this film, which in total isn't that much. In order to be successful, a space adventure doesn't need to have the kind of pulse-pounding action in films such as Gravity (2013) or even Ad Astra (2019). It can be non-action and even more quiet science-fiction in the vein of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). However, Kubrick's film was wrestling with more intellectual ideas. It boiled down to a paranoid and claustrophobic thriller, not that far off from Scott's 1979 classic and the numerous films inspired by such. It's the tension that develops when a group of people are trapped in a confined area and various levels of mistrust forms until things escalate to violence or deadly choices. The screenplay by Nick Shafir isn't subtle or even clever with building that tension. Shafir's script is rather blunt, which would be fine, if the action were better.
John Gallagher Jr. (10 Cloverfield Lane and Short Term 12) rounds out the cast as Christian Campbell, a fellow American on board. He's also a scientist, conducting some experiment that gets short shrift and also is rather meaningless in the development of him as a character. The only trait about Christian that seems to matter is that he has children to whom he needs to return. He's also the most paranoid. The characterization of that paranoia, the building of it again isn't subtle or even clever. It's rather blunt.
Rated R for some violence and language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 35 mins.
In theaters.
