Review of Stowaway (2021) by Stream2Bigscree — 02 May 2021

Busy weekend in the re-opening world of Stream to Big Screen. As we know, more vaccines are available and we recommend taking one if you deem it safe for yourself or family. Either way, make sure you all are safe because the theaters are open and opening. We need to support this industry as they have continued to provide entertainment for us even at home. Anyway, enough altruism for this post. This week we were able to watch the new release, Stowaway, which was released on Netflix on April 22nd. This streaming film is about an important mission to Mars with a 3-person crew but as usual, of course, space giveth and space taketh away. The crew faces an unlikely and impossible decision of what to do with an unplanned stowaway *wink wink* aboard the spaceship that is putting everyone and the mission in jeopardy. Let's see how this flick turns out.

First things first, the cast is really just 4 people. I mean there's not even a fake voice in the background that gets a basic name in the rolling credits. The writing in the movie works at times. I'm not sure if it was the actors or the writing that worked, but the the storyline is interesting enough to pique a viewer's interest. Between my girl, Toni Collette, and Daniel Dae Kim, I felt their performances. And let me just put this out there... no one believes that Anna Kendrick would be in space. The movie is just downhill from there. Kendrick isn't bad in the movie but how do you not look at her and think, "is this pitch perfect in space?" Kendrick hits some lines and scenes very well, but I just couldn't get passed her being whiny in space. The 4th cast member, Shamier Anderson, is barely even used. I think when people view this you're going to expect a lot more interaction and action between the only people in the movie and it just doesn't happen. You're left thinking in most scenes like, "is that it? That's all you're going to do (or say)?!" You're feeling a bit empty and that's kind of exactly how I felt about the space environment as well. Empty! We're used to these grandiose space settings like Gravity, Interstellar and others but here space is an afterthought. Yes, we're going to Mars and yes were spinning and it makes us sick but the views are forgettable. You could've almost set this movie on a deserted island or shipwreck and it would be the same movie. It was just disappointing to not really take advantage of the coolest part of the movie - space.

With that said, Stowaway has the makings of an entertaining thriller but that's not what we got. A movie dependent on a 4-person cast needs a lot of help otherwise to be memorable. Space movies generally garner a lot of intrigue, impressiveness and beauty in the views but this movie finds a way to make the great beyond even look humdrum. Stowaway has its moments but you won't need more than a handful of popcorn to get through it.