09 March 2017

The Space Between Us


FILM: The Space Between Us
DIRECTOR: Peter Chelsom
RATING: 2/10

The Clumsy Film with Intergalactic Failures

When a movie gets it this wrong it just seems mean-spirited to point out its flaws. Here Asa Butterfield plays Gardner, a 16 year old boy born and raised by scientists on Mars (back story: we've colonized the planet due to a serious global warming issue here on Earth. Not into global warming movies? Don't worry, it's one of the many given circumstances that bear no fruit in this film). Gardner spends his days gardening--yawn--and his nights AOL instant messaging with Tulsa, the girl he fancies back on Earth. A series of events not worth mentioning leads Gardner to Tulsa's high school locker in, you guessed it, Tulsa! And before you know it Tulsa (the teenage girl) is flying a plane through the midwest while Gardner tries to get used to the weight of gravity so he can live like a regular earthling. And did I mention, he also needs a heart transplant and he's trying to find his biological father? I can only imagine how many times The Fault In Our Stars was mentioned at the pitch meeting.

It is not just the characters that make this film annoying, though it is striking how inconsistent and poorly written they are. And I won't go into Gary Oldman, beyond that he doesn't age a day in the 16 years supposedly represented on screen (it's very truly as if no one involved in the film considered the design implications of a 16 year jump in time). But what's truly infuriating is that the interplanetary landscape that is presented with such promise, devolves and vanishes without resolution to make way for an uninspired, precious teen love story. Beyond countless plot holes and tiresome attempts at whimsy, this film simply doesn't trust itself enough to tell one story well. Instead it tries to distract the audience with endless gimmicks and plodding plot twists. The Fault In Our Stars minus the stars and double the fault. 


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