‘Stowaway’ Review: Anna Kendrick and Toni Collette in a Catchy Outer-Space Morality Play Variety 2 hrs ago
What’s the thing that a good movie director does? In a way, that’s a silly question, since good directors do a thousand things, and filmmakers are diverse creatures. But in an age of freeze-dried blockbuster storytelling, it’s important to remind yourself that a good director leads you through a story step by step, moment by moment, always creating an honest immersion out of human dynamics.
Joe Penna is that kind of director. He’s a natural; whatever “it” is, he’s got it. “Stowaway” is only his second feature, and like the first, “Arctic” (2018), which starred Mads Mikkelsen as an explorer stranded in the frozen wilderness, it’s a tale of survival in extreme circumstances. This one is an outer-space adventure, which these days makes you think that it must be a spectacle film. But
It s not that I hated Nikole Beckwith s
Together, Together, but man, did it irritate me. Like a slow drag of fingernails across a chalkboard that steadily increases in volume until your hair stands on end, the film is a long slog to nowhere with one of the most aggravating practitioners of passive-aggressive behavior you re likely to meet. That would be Matt (Ed Helms), a single guy in his 40s who longs to be a father and decides to hire a surrogate to help him to that end. That poor soul would be Anna (Patti Harrison), a not particularly responsible young woman who just wants to make a quick buck.
Review: Four s a crowd in outer space drama Stowaway
One too many people on board spacecraft in intriguing Netflix flick, starring Anna Kendrick and Toni Collette
Adam Graham
A three-person crew is on a journey bound for Mars when a fourth person is discovered on board. The more the merrier? Not in this case, as there s only enough oxygen on board for three. So either someone needs to hold their breath or an uncomfortable discussion needs to take place.
That s the set-up for Stowaway, which looks like a sci-fi thriller but unfolds like a straightforward moral play. It s a simple numbers game: someone s gotta go. But how do you measure the value of a life under extreme circumstances?
Director Joe Penna – who also co-wrote the script with Ryan Morrison – certainly asks a lot of his cast and they deliver. With just the four of them on-screen for
Stowaway s duration, Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Toni Collette and Shamier Anderson all do excellent work in grounding the heightened premise.
Anderson, in particular, feels authentic in his reaction to the situation he finds himself in, while you feel every weight of the terrible decision weighing on Collette s character Marina, as the commander of the ship.
Kendrick and Kim are mostly there to be the angel and demon, respectively, on her shoulder, offering different viewpoints for the situation. However, they re experienced enough to flesh out the roles and ensure that you re never totally for or against either of them.
Stowaway Is as Slow-Paced as an Actual Mission to Mars Directed by Joe Penna
Starring Toni Collette, Daniel Dae Kim, Anna Kendrick, Shamier Anderson
6
For a sci-fi thriller about an ill-fated mission to Mars,
Stowaway misses a lot of opportunities to be exciting. These two hours are about as slow-paced as an actual mission to Mars there s simmering tension and worry about all the things that could go wrong, but mostly it s a lot of sitting around, problem-solving and routine chores.
Ship commander Marina (Toni Collette), doctor Zoe (Anna Kendrick) and biologist David (Daniel Dae Kim) are on a mission to Mars at an indeterminate point in the near future. The ship s resources are already stretched thin with three astronauts but their situation goes from tricky to impossible when they discover Michael (Shamier Anderson), a launch plan engineer who fell into a crevice of the ship and suffered a concussion before takeoff.