Review by Sarai Lewis
Rating: 3/5
The Space Between Us is a teen sci-fi movie that hinges off of a very interesting and cool concept, with execution that could have been more dynamic.
In the near future, a space shuttle embarks on the first mission to colonize Mars, only to discover after takeoff that one of the astronauts is pregnant with a baby boy.
That boy grows to become Gardner Elliot – an inquisitive, highly intelligent boy who reaches the age of 16 having only met 14 people in his entire life…on Mars. While searching for clues about his father and the home planet he’s never known, Gardner begins an online friendship with a girl in Colorado named Tulsa.
When he finally gets a chance to go to Earth, he’s eager to experience all of the things he could only read about on Mars. Although once his explorations begin, scientists discover that Gardner’s organs can’t withstand Earth’s atmosphere and he finds himself racing against the clock to survive.
The story itself was entertaining and although it wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, it delivered in a few ways that you don't expect and was overall just good and fun watch.
I feel as if the storyline was a bit watered down by the “teen aspect” of the movie which translates to high school drama, nonexistent parental figures and of course…road trips.
The idea of the story itself was unique enough to be interesting and although it had very stereotypical pieces, it was enjoyable and I can’t truly complain about it (At least we didn't get another dystopian teen movie about governments gone wild and crazy political leaders right?).
Everybody seemed to fit with their roles and function nicely among the other cast members, so it made the story easier to follow and ultimately allowed for the plot to thicken on its own rather than a lot of information being thrown at you all at once. Speaking of the cast, there wasn’t anything about it that was overly memorable or acting that was too exceptional. The interactions between Gardner (Asa Butterfield) and Tulsa (Britt Robertson) were somewhat over-acted and excessively dramatic for no real reason, but it wasn't too drastic. Although the acting itself was bit overdone in places, I didn't mind and it was actually overall better than expected. I felt that the overall flow was nicely done and nothing negative specifically stood out, so that definitely made up for the bits that were a bit lacking.
Like I said earlier, the story was told nicely and in a way that was comfortable to watch and made sense. The movie started out like something similar to a film like ‘The Martian’, but then transitioned into a more teen style movie with science fiction roots. I thought that everything was put into place well and all around worked with the style of movie it seemed to want to be.
The visuals of the movie were clean and really nothing too incredible, but it helped explain bits of the story that you might not have picked up on at first. It looked like a combo of a brighter teen movie and a science fiction drama which was balanced enough to make sense visually.
One thing I wanted to mention was the soundtrack. Lately with movies that I've seen, the soundtrack is either totally memorable and amazing, or has you asking “was there a soundtrack?”. This soundtrack fell under the category of the latter. There wasn’t any piece of it that was memorable and I actually can’t really recall a specific song that stuck with me which was disappointing.
Aside from all of these bits, pieces and details that I've mentioned, The Space Between Us was a movie that I wouldn't watch again but definitely enjoyed. It was pure in a way that made it easy to enjoy and an overall fun watch.