Stowaway (2021) Directors: Joe Penna Starring: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Toni Collette, Shamier Anderson
Certificate: 12 Running Time: 116 Minutes
Tagline: "Millions of miles from home. Survival comes from sacrifice."
You could be forgiven for thinking a film with a title like this might be about one of those attempted-immigrants who sneak into the landing gear of airliners or something. I suppose it could've been a good premise for a film but it's actually about a very different kind of stowaway. Presumably set some time in the near future, this stowaway story, much like the TV show I recently took a look at here, concerns a manned mission to Mars; the first such mission I believe. This would've been reason enough for me to watch it but it also stars the adorable Anna Kendrick as well, who I'll watch in virtually anything (not Twilight though, no no no). Her endearingness and often-quirky demeanour can light up any film, but would she suit a sci-fi drama. I was ultra-interested to find out, especially since she was heading a very small cast.
Her role is that of Zoe Levenson, a doctor and one of the three-person crew of the catchily-named MTS-42 which is commanded by Marina Barnett (Collette) and also features David Kim (Kim), a biologist. The film begins at the exact moment their mission does - on the launch pad during the final countdown (no, not the Europe song). Things kick off without any major issues, their launch vehicle connects to the main ship which is already in orbit, and the two use each other as counterweights to spin around, thus generating artificial gravity. They seem to be on their way and are making themselves at home on the ship. BUT THEN!! As Marina is pootling around the ship, she opens an overhead compartment to do... something, and out falls a human, unconscious and hurt, but alive. Good gracious, they all say!
Soon nursed back to health by Zoe and her skilled hands (tee hee!), it transpires that the surprise guest is Michael Adams (Anderson) who is (was?) a launch support engineer who has no idea how he ended up onboard the ship. Not enormously helpful but never mind, he is soon put to work anyway, to earn his keep, so to speak. Sadly, however, the compartment he was found in also contained the ship's only CO2 scrubber - an essential life-support system - and his bulk squeezed against it broke it, apparently. Not only that but Marina soon discovers the unit is irreparably damaged and, of course, they have no backup or spare parts. After several attempts to bypass the problem it becomes clear that not all of them can survive the trip.
Sounds like the makings of a tense, gripping sci-fi adventure but, to be honest, it was ruined for me just a little by how implausible a scenario it is. In real life, for example, every single gram of weight is accounted for with space flights, so surely something would've been off before they even launched? In addition, no reasonable (or unreasonable) explanation is ever given for how this 'stowaway' ends up on the ship. If he was working on it prior to launch, slipped and hit his head, and ended up remaining there until launch, that would still be far-fetched but it's still semi-plausible. He was, however, sealed in a small compartment in the ceiling as far as I can tell, which looks like it can only be sealed/unsealed from the outside.
The conclusion I drew from what is shown is that someone shut him in there, presumably after rendering him unconscious, but this isn't a subject that is ever approached by the crew of the ship. It's also remarkable to think that any space mission, never mind one as long and costly as this one, wouldn't have a backup or spare parts for such a critical ship's system. Even with our real, pathetically slow-moving efforts in space, the International Space Station has a spare CO2 scrubber as far as I'm aware. With the amount of time and money and effort required just to put something in orbit (tens of millions, not counting the payload), never mind send it to Mars, a few backups would surely be common sense?
There are also some inaccuracies of a scientific nature that are obvious enough that even I noticed them, but putting these several fairly major points aside, I did still enjoy Stowaway quite a bit. The premise of a stowaway on a space flight and the resultant moral dilemma is a highly intriguing one and the cast are all likeable and put in good performances as well. Add to that the decent effects and set designs and it's really only the aforementioned points that I have to complain about. If you don't really care about how the stowaway got there and just enjoy a tense character piece with some impossible decisions, you've got a decent example. The faults did bother me a bit and my score may be inflated by a point or so due to Ms. Kendrick's lovely presence, but it's still an immersive film that fans of the genre(s) should try.
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