Let me start by saying I was not sorry that I saw this movie. Going for it has attractive visuals, some genuinely tense moments, and it still holds your attention to the end. Against those strengths lies an often plodding pace, bad science to the point of incredulity, characters whom we only get glimpses of and are left wanting more (even, I would say, Brad Pitt's Roy McBride).
The two films that came immediately to mind while watching it were 2001 - A Space Odyssey and Apocalypse Now. 2001 because of the unsubtle commercialization of space shown (here even more over the top) and the mystery lying in the outskirts of the solar system.
Apocalypse Now for the constant references to an unseen character whose intentions are uncertain (Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, Tommy Lee Jones' Clifford McBride here) and who believes himself to be right in the face of all who say otherwise. That character is only truly revealed at the end of the movie. A further parallel, the main character is on a mission to end his life.
The movie is frustrating in many ways because it clearly has the potential to be more - hence a 7 instead of an 8 or a 9. But it's still worth watching.
The two films that came immediately to mind while watching it were 2001 - A Space Odyssey and Apocalypse Now. 2001 because of the unsubtle commercialization of space shown (here even more over the top) and the mystery lying in the outskirts of the solar system.
Apocalypse Now for the constant references to an unseen character whose intentions are uncertain (Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, Tommy Lee Jones' Clifford McBride here) and who believes himself to be right in the face of all who say otherwise. That character is only truly revealed at the end of the movie. A further parallel, the main character is on a mission to end his life.
The movie is frustrating in many ways because it clearly has the potential to be more - hence a 7 instead of an 8 or a 9. But it's still worth watching.
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