Plot Summary: Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up alone on a spaceship light-years from Earth. As his memory returns, he uncovers a mission to stop a mysterious substance killing the sun, and save Earth. An unexpected friendship may be the key.

Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

Writers: Drew Goddard, Andy Weir

Runtime: 2 hours 36 mins

• Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace
• Milana Vayntrub as Olesya Ilyukhina
• Sandra Huller as Eva Stratt
• Ken Leung as Yao Li-Jie
• Liz Kingsman as Shapiro

Review by: Samuel

Synopsis

Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory slowly returns, he soon discovers he must solve the riddle behind a mysterious substance that’s causing the sun to die out. As details of the mission unravel, he calls on his scientific training and sheer ingenuity — but he may not have to do it alone.

What I Liked: 

There is a whole lot to love in this film, but we must start with the charismatic lead, who is in every scene. Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace captures your attention with his wit and charm from the opening minutes. He is the first face we see as he wakes up with amnesia and tries to piece together how he ended up where he is. That quick montage of events as he explores the spaceship and surprises himself with how much he knows about scientific instruments on board is the perfect introduction to his character, as we get a glimpse of the raw personality even without knowing his name. 

As the film continues and we learn (through flashbacks) who he was and how he ended up light-years away from Earth, our connection with him deepens. He is a common man doing an extraordinary thing, and while not everyone has the scientific brain power Grace has, we can all relate to and admire stepping up to be brave when you don’t think you have it in you. Grace is all of us. Similar to Matt Damon’s Character in The Martian (another film based on a book by Andy Weir), Grace gets freaked out, he gets scared, he cracks jokes about the ridiculousness of his situation, and he desperately just wants to be home. I find it refreshing that even though he’s our protagonist, he is vulnerable. 

Gosling alone would probably have had enough to carry the film by himself, but the movie gets exponentially better (and funnier) when he meets Rocky, an alien lifeform- who looks like a rock- on the same mission as Grace to save his world. Speaking of that mission, another thing this film excels at is explaining complex issues in a non-complex way. The basic gist is that our Sun is dying, and to avert extinction, humanity sent Grace to this portion of space to find a solution. Rocky’s Sun is also dying, and he has come to this part of space to find a solution and save his planet. The movie does an excellent job explaining the problem, the solution, issues with the solution, and new discoveries so that you never feel lost. 

Now, the relationship between Grace and Rocky DRIVE this film. Grace eventually builds a device that allows them to speak to each other using his laptop, and when we (the audience) get to hear Rocky, we find that he is both a genius engineer and incredibly hilarious. He’s almost childlike in the way he behaves with Grace running through the ship, outright calling his ideas dumb, and constantly asking him questions. It’s adorable and eventually turns into a bromance that you don’t want to see end. 

The movie is about 2 and a half hours long, but it never drags (which is one of my highest compliments). The story is engrossing as you try to figure out two mysteries: 1) how did Grace get here, and 2) what exactly is harming our sun? I was engaged during the whole time, and even though the movie tricks you into thinking it’s over when it’s not (something I normally hate), I loved the adventure we see unfold and its ultimate conclusion.  

Last thing I will mention is the cinematography. The DP of this film is the same one behind Dune and Dune 2, and yes, it’s excellent. I’m not sure how much CG was used in the film, but it had to be minimal. The practical effects here shine and do their job to immerse you in this universe. 

What I Didn’t Like:

There is actually nothing in this movie that rises to the level of a “dislike”-  I thought it was almost perfect. So for this section, I would like to lay out some (admittedly nitpicky) missed opportunities I noticed given how well the film explained most of the science in the film: 

1. Rocky seems to understand Grace’s English words even before Grace builds the interface that allows them to communicate. And, after that interface is built, it seems to only work one way- from Rocky’s language to English…so then how does Rocky understand English? 
2. It is explained that the journey Grace underwent is 11 light-years away. We are told how the trip was fueled by a revolutionary energy source, but it’s not clear how the spaceship actually traveled with that fuel. Any ship that moves close to the speed of light would be destroyed according to our understanding of physical laws, so how did the ship make the journey intact?   
3. The flashbacks were essential in learning about the circumstances that led Grace to where he is, and I loved most of them, but I felt the very last one betrayed what we thought of certain characters. 

None of these are enough to ruin the experience at all. They are just the few questions/thoughts I had in my head after the credits began to roll. 

Images Courtesy of IMDB