Stowaway Review: A suspenseful albeit slow-paced space expedition – Times of India

Hollywood has taken many trips to space in the past, exploring the universe's vast expanse, its apathetically ruthless nature towards man, and the isolation and helplessness of the astronauts at its mercy. Sometimes it's through the lens of enigmatic allegory (Stanley Kubrick's magnum opus 2001: Space Odyssey) or breathtaking visuals (Alfonso Cuarn's Gravity), and other times mind-bending scientific theories (Christopher Nolan's Interstellar) or even a little bit of humour (Ridley Scott's The Martian).

Director Joe Penna's expedition to Mars in the 2021 movie Stowaway is neither as ambitious, nor mounted on as grand a scale, as the ones mentioned above. Instead, it unfolds in the rather claustrophobic confines of the Kingfisher, that is en route to a Mars colony. The cast is threadbare, but solid - Anna Kendrick as medical researcher Zoe, Toni Collette as the ship's commander Marina, and Daniel Dae Kim as biologist David. Toni's Marina is confident and steady and Daniel's David stoic yet a softie, but Anna kind of steals the frame as the adorkable space rookie, Zoe.

The crux of the film's story is a moral dilemma involving Kingfisher's titular and accidental stowaway - Michael Adams (Shamier Anderson), whom the crew finds stashed away and injured in a compartment of the craft. As they nurse him back to recovery, they realise that they don't have enough oxygen for four people. It soon becomes clear that one person (and that person being Michael, of course) has to die for the other three to live.

Each of the characters deals with the ethical quandary in their own way - Marina as the no-nonsense leader and David as the scientific pragmatist, both of whom understand that the success of their mission (that involves making Mars fit for human habitation), the fate of humanity, as well as their own lives, ride on eliminating Michael from the equation. On the other hand, Michael is the powerless someone who knows he's in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Zoe the idealist who will keep looking for alternate sources of oxygen rather than let this man die.

Visually, there's not much to fault with the movie and the scenes that unfold in space - especially when we finally leave the Kingfisher at some point in the second half - are well done. It's the pacing that's a letdown, and labeling it a thriller might be an overstatement. The film isn't exactly edge-of-your-seat until its fag end, and meanders quite a bit before making its point. However, among its strengths are its characters, that aren't cookie-cutter and have great chemistry. In fact, they're all endearing in their own way (even Michael, though his part is slightly under-cooked) which is what makes the story's haunting conclusion stay with you.

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Stowaway Review: A suspenseful albeit slow-paced space expedition - Times of India