There comes a point in every sci-fi where you either believe the science or you don’t. And when you don’t, the movie falls apart no matter how good it is. Stowaway might be the first major release about space travel which knew less than I did on the subject – and that includes Star Wars. Getting space wrong on a film about a two year journey to Mars seems both foolish and reckless, but you tell me what I’m supposed to think when I see:
1) A space mission to Mars which fails to account for a missing engineer
2) Travel minutiae so detailed it accounts for the number of grams in your personal effects and yet fails to catch the part where the spacecraft has mysteriously gained 200 pounds.
3) … and also failed to notice the subsequent short in the life support systems
4) A mission that cannot be aborted because “too far in,” when –in fact- from the rearview mirror, it is easy to tell we are closer to Earth than the moon. “Whoa, ‘Captain Abort,’ slow those heels. It might take upwards of 45 minutes to get y’all back home”
5) (My personal favorite) A space where there’s ALWAYS gravity.
I’m not kidding about the last one. There was none of that cutesy floating shit inside the capsule that you might just see in EVERY.OTHER.FILM.ABOUT.SPACE.TRAVEL. Even outside the craft, there’s a scene where the really well constructed [read: Papier-mâché] hatch door detaches and my brain said, “oops, that’s gonna float away” when the scene made it drop like a stone. To where, movie? Where do things in space drop like that? Before the drop, we had astronauts outside a capsule climbing yes, literally climbing like one might climb a tree or a mountain. Again, why? What is the gravitational force acting upon the astronauts here? Explain yourself.
And it’s all so sad, because I really like the cast (Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson, Toni Collette) and the plot is potentially very moving. Basically, a mission built for three finds it has a fourth which jeopardizes everything.
I cannot say that Anna Kendrick makes for a believable astronaut, but that might be overrated. Natalie Portman made an extremely believable astronaut and look how well that film turned out. When we see the takeoff, there’s 
jostling, there’s bumping, there’s raw power and Zoe (Kendrick) looks the slightest bit nervous. David (Kim) even gets motion sick. Ummm, ok. These are normal reactions from humans, BUT pretty lame stuff from astronauts. When is the last time you met an astronaut who looked nervous or had doubts? These are the things they weed out in candidate trials.
Ah, but if you don’t have doubt, you don’t have a film, as we see early into the mission when Michael (Anderson) falls from the ceiling, only discovered by the blood dripping from above. Didn’t notice the short in the life support systems, but noticed the blood, huh? Look, I’ve already stated my case for how bad the science is in Stowaway, BUT IT’S REALLY, REALLY BAD. And for me, it completely took away from how much I might have gotten into the existential drama that enfolded.
Stowaway has some really lovely actors and a hard hitting dilemma, and yet as reality goes, it’s still just White Chicks in space. I didn’t believe it … and by Act III, I no longer wanted to believe it. With some genuine scientific or NASA consulting, this could have been a much better film.
Movie astronauts travel the “stars”
When it’s clear they’re saddled to cars
If this much you don’t care
As long as we’re there
Gee, why not call Mexico “Mars?”
Rated TV-MA, 116 Minutes
Director: Joe Penna
Writer: Joe Penna, Ryan Morrison
Genre: MST3K
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: The writers
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Scientists
