Asa Butterfield Gary Oldman Britt Robertson Karla Gugino BD Wong Janet Montgomery
The Space
between Us will surprise and delight you every step of the way. It starts with the clever—but not too clever—script (Allan Loeb, Stewart
Schill, Richard Barton Lewis), then directed almost perfectly by Peter Chelsom,
and acted to a tee by Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson, Gary Oldman, Karla
Gugino, and the rest of the cast.
The musical score by Andrew Lockington is lyrical and provocative for
each scene, and Barry Peterson’s cinematography captures all the beauty of the
New Mexican landscape (sometimes with the Albuquerque balloons overhead), the
colorful topography of Mars with the clean lines of its space station, and close-ups
of the expressive faces of the actors.
The engaging story starts with the high hopes
of the company Genesis and its East Texas mission to put six astronauts on Mars
for a long period of time.
Genesis’ founder Nathaniel Shepherd (Oldman) regards the mission as a
proud father would his child. The
lead astronaut, Sarah Elliot, eloquently answers the question from press about
whether she is afraid, when she acknowledges she is, but she has courage, and
“courage is fear that has said its prayers.”
Unfortunately, sometime after the successful
engagement with Mars, Sarah has morning sickness. Horrors! She is
pregnant, and those in command have to come up with a plan. This is where Shepherd steps up and
makes the decision to keep the information classified. The doctor on board will deliver her
baby, and then they’ll decide what to do after that. They are aware that the consequences of a baby in utero
developing in zero gravity conditions are unknown.
In addition, scientists in such a situation are
not always mindful of human factors
that can enter into these circumstances.
For instance, after sixteen years go by, Gardner Elliot is a bright,
inquisitive teenager who is going through an identity crisis. Neither his mother or his father is on
board at this point; instead, an astronaut named Kendra (Gugino) is looking
after him. But he wants to know who he is, and realizes that he needs to
go to Earth to find out.
Most of the rest of the story is about this
journey filled with tender gaffes and outright comedic situations. Gardner has started an online
friendship with Tulsa (Robertson), a cheeky, talented earth-girl who has been
orphaned and placed in foster homes so many times she knows more about life than
her foster “parents.” He is
determined to find her and get her help in finding his father.
Much of the wit of the film is seeing the jaded
Tulsa meeting the sincere Gardner, and trying to comprehend who he is (Ah, he is from Mars!) and helping him
understand earth and its customs.
I loved the constant plane/bus/stolen
automobile chases—that mimic action films with their mandatory loud car
chases—with Shepherd and Kendra always trying to locate the runaways Gardner
and Tulsa. This intelligent, well
crafted and presented “action” film should please everyone.
Everything fits together so beautifully
in this film, you want to cheer at the end.
Grade: A By
Donna R. Copeland
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