Review: Stowaway (2021)
A three-person crew on a mission to Mars faces an impossible choice when an unplanned passenger jeopardises the lives of everyone on board. Staring Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson and Toni Collette.
I was really bored when I decided to watch this movie so my expectation was really low. As the film started, it seem to match my level of boredom until Collette’s Commander Marina Barnett literally stumbles upon an unconscious Michael Adams (played by Love Jacked’s, Shamier Anderson). That’s when the movie started getting a little more interesting.
As most of you know, we are entering spoiler territory so, if you have not seen Stowaway I’d suggest you stream the movie before coming back.
Still here? Okay.
The crew of MTS-42 is left dealing with a dilemma when the unconscious support engineer Michael inadvertently destroyed a device that scrubs carbon dioxide from the air on the ship when he was tucked away behind a panel. Commander Barnett, along with David Kim, the biologist and Zoe Levenson, the medical researcher are now faced with the moral question of sacrificing Michael’s life when the ship’s oxygen is depleting because of the busted cap. They are forced to use emergency lithium hydroxide canisters to scrub carbon dioxide from the air — however, it can only sustain two members of the ship.
Secondly, their mission to Mars is put to the test when Barnett orders David to cultivate his algae experiment on the ship so that it would provide enough oxygen for a third and maybe, fourth member of the ship. Unfortunately, all the algae plants die due to lack to oxygen and without another supply, the crew of four will die weeks before reaching Mars.
Zoe, who has gotten attached to Michael comes up with an idea — to climb the tethers and recover the liquid oxygen from the launch vehicle. Barnett, initially dismissive of the idea eventually lets David and Zoe perform the EVA due to Michael’s lack of professional training and Barnett’s hand injury. They make the climb and got one out of the two canisters but due to a space storm approaching, Zoe in a state of duress, lets one slip and horrifyingly watch the tank go down in the abyss.
The crew realises that one person must endure the radiation and retrieve the tank left behind on the first attempt so that the other three can survive. Zoe, decides to go, leaving Zoe, David and Michael on the ship as she moves the tank inside and slowly decays as the radiation hits her.
What I liked
Anna Kendrick’s performance of Zoe completely takes over in this movie as the usual swarmy, sassy personality (which I love by the way) is replaced with this steady, thoughtful persona. Even in the scene where Zoe tells Barnett and Kim her plans, the steadfastness and pain in her was so evident. And honestly, there is nothing about Dae Kim, Anderson and the amazing Collette performance that I would change. They all had little moments, grappling with the truth and each handled it in their own way. I mean, if you were in their shoes, what would you do? All four on the ship react exactly I would expect. It is incredibly jarring.
What I didn’t like
Amazing performances aside, I did not like the pacing of this movie. It moved a little too slow for my taste and when things revving up, you’ll notice at the timestamp (yes, you will find yourself doing that a lot with this movie) you have 6 minutes to the movie.
I give this movie a C-. The only reason you will find interest in this movie is if you were fans of the cast or like me, watched every out on Netflix that week.
