Review of the film 'Stowaway'

 

A three-member crew on a two-year mission to Mars discovers that there's a fourth person on board their ship. A stowaway. Although the crew quickly binds with the unexpected traveler, they discover that he has inadvertently destroyed a critical carbon dioxide-removing device. They don't have enough oxygen on board for their flight, and one passenger will have to go.

You would think that this problem is the most serious thing that happens during the film 'Stowaway' (Netflix, 2021), but something more serious occurred when the script was being written. The film is full of inconsistencies, illogical events, unlikely circumstances, and plot elements that are totally absurd.

Here is a partial list of what I found wrong in the film. (I can't take credit for everything I've listed):

·         How did Michael, the stowaway, survive the launch, when the members of the crew had to wear helmets and oxygen masks?

·         Michael was an engineer, but he was incapable of fixing any of the ship's technical malfunctions.

·         Why wasn't the ship equipped with a backup system?

·         Why couldn't the crew abort their mission the moment they discovered the stowaway and the critical malfunction?

·         Filling a cannister with pressurized oxygen turns out to be an illogically simple task, but dropping that cannister on the return to the ship by trained astronauts, who are securely tethered to each other, is just plain stupid.

·         As pointed out by other, more knowledgeable reviewers, a solar radiation storm would not be visible.

Despite all of the above, I found the film strangely captivating, primarily because of the acting. Toni Collette as mission commander was totally believable, especially when she can't avoid shedding a tear or two as things began to fall apart. Daniel Dae Kim as the ship biologist who can manage neither the physical stress of the launch nor the failure of his algae experiments. Shamier Anderson as the stowaway, whose despair when learning he is going to die comes across with the right amount of pathos. And Anna Kendrik as the medical researcher, is a joy to watch as she handles the most difficult assignments with poise and the slightest hint of a smile.

Critics of the film have noted the good acting, but also the fact that the film is quite boring. But then, a two-year journey to Mars is probably one of the most tedious journeys that humans could conceivably take in the very near future. It's a shame that the many ridiculous plot elements of 'Stowaway' make us less likely to take the trip.