Spaceman

Plot

Jakub Procházka is six months into a solo mission to Jupiter to investigate a mysterious cloud particle called Chopra.

He has left his pregnant wife, Lenka home, and she decides to end her marriage with him through a message to him.

Because of his deteriorating mental health, mission control decides not to pass on her message, and beg her to start communications with him, but she refuses.  

As his mental health continues to deteriorate, he is visited by a mysterious spider he calls Hanus – who guides him on the last weeks of his mission, where he discusses his role as a soon to be father, meanwhile discussing his own from his childhood in wartime.

Direction

This was quite a visually stunning movie with some impressive CGI, especially as most of the film occurs in deep outer space, and one of the main characters on screen is a Giant talking spider. I found some of the camera movements a tad overdone, where the camera gives 180˚ views, or full 360˚ spins. There is a little overuse of the distorted vision when Jakub has memories of times on earth too.

Cast/Characters

Adam Sandler plays Jakub, and while I have previously enjoyed some of his dramatic work – this one was a little on the nose. His accent falters at times, and this felt like an oversight on all involved.

Carey Mulligan felt like she was almost sleepwalking through the role too, and her (fellow Chech?) character speaks with her British accent. I disliked her character immensely, as she is written quite poorly. The resolve at the end of he film is

Secondary cast Lena Olin and Isabella Rosselini are a little underused.

I really enjoyed Kunal Nayyar as Jakub’s friend and NASA team member who is really the only person he speaks to. This was miles away from his Big Bang character, and I genuinely enjoyed his character.

Paul Dano provided the voice of Hanus, and he did a great job in his voice performance. His almost monotone cadence was quite soothing.

Screenplay/Setting/Themes

Primarily set in Jakub’s space shuttle, the film goes between earth and his shuttle regularly.

The screenplay tries to be profound at times, especially with the use of large words – some of which I hadn’t even heard before – and this felt more egotistical.

The concept was okay, but execution was done poorly. Adding so much of Jakub’s family history and drama felt strange – and potentially a flaw in the fact that ‘would Jakub really be the right choice for a yearlong mission considering his past and present circumstances?

Score/Soundtrack

Once again, the score used was a little overdone – and was played for forced emotion.

Overall

Despite what it tries to accomplish, the end result felt like it was a forced drama crammed down our throats. There was very little reprieve from the overbearing dramatic moments. Sandler’s faltering accent, as well as the over dramatic score made it a chore to get through. There was a slight moment with Hanus eating the spread that was a little cute, but I would not recommend this.

 2/5

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