In the near-future, mankind has finally surmounted the obstacles of going to—and colonizing—Mars. The ship launches and lands without a hitch, and everything seems to be going according to plan. That is, until the lead astronaut gets sick. It’s easy to write off her vomiting as her body adjusting to a new atmosphere, but all it takes is an image on a monitor to show what’s going on: she’s pregnant.
Release Date: February 3rd, 2017 Runtime: 121 mins.
It’s not a spoiler to reveal that she dies in childbirth and, as her son is born, the space company is faced with a dilemma: bring the child to earth, where they know he’ll have a hard time acclimating to our planet’s atmosphere, or keep it a secret, forever hiding the fact that a human child was born—and is living—on Mars.
Cut to sixteen years later and that child, Gardner (Asa Butterfield), is thriving on the space station. He’s working with the scientists, he’s got a robot friend (his only friend, he often laments), and a pseudo-adoptive mom (Carla Gugino). The only problem? He’s lacking connection with people his age—or, really, anyone from Earth. It’s a longing that he partially satiates by web chatting (future technology, and all that) with a high school girl named Tulsa (Britt Robertson). So when he’s finally granted the opportunity (permission) to visit Earth, he makes the most of it, wasting no time in fleeing his scientist escorts in an attempt to meet up with his Colorado-dwelling web crush.
The beginning of the film isn’t boring by any means, but by the time we get to Gardner and Tulsa’s meet-up, it’s definitely evident that the preceding minutes were just to get us here, to the “good” stuff. And that’s what’s most shocking about the film—once it switches gears, the relationship and budding romance between Gardner and Tulsa are actually more engaging than the Mars sequences. There’s an obvious chemistry between them that only gets stronger as the film progresses. Butterfield is great as Gardner, all wide-eyed curiosity about Earth and other people, and it’s here that much of the humor comes in—Gardner’s relying on old black-and-white films to provide him with pick-up lines about chivalry, asking strangers What’s your favorite thing about Earth?, and his joint fascination and surprise by water and sunglasses (things Earthlings take for granted). While funny, these moments also allow us to experience the world through Gardner’s fresh eyes. (Think Will Ferrell’s Buddy from Elf roaming the streets of New York City.)
In the beginning, I wasn’t totally sold on Britt Robertson’s performance as Tulsa, which is strange because I’m a fan. I have a feeling she was asked to play younger to fit the role since Britt is actually 26 in real life. However, her performance grew on me as the film progressed and her character had a chance to deepen.
It’s only as the film takes a step into road trip territory on a search for Gardner’s father that it falters. While the stops Gardner and Tulsa make provide material for both humor and drama, and the mystery of Gardner’s father was a surprise I didn’t see coming, a little further developing the character of who it turned out to be would’ve gone a long way.
In some ways, The Space Between Us feels like it wants to be three different films: a space exploration story and the moral implications that go along with it, a teen comedy-romance, and a road-trip search for family. It’s all three at various points (and successful in their respective parts), but I don’t think they meshed quite as well as they were intended. Though the relationship between Gardner and Tulsa was the heart and soul of the film, I can’t help wondering what the film would’ve been like had it further grappled with the moral implications of keeping Gardner’s existence and sequester a secret. Regardless, Space is an easy-to-watch, sometimes funny, always engaging and delightful film about relationships, time, and the notion that we always want the opposite of what we have.
7.5/10
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