'Approaching the Unknown' - 3 June 2016

[Will.]

Synopsis:

Captain William Stanaforth (Mark Strong) is on a one-way solo mission to take the first steps in colonizing Mars. Like all pioneers throughout history, Stanaforth will face insurmountable odds and life and death decisions as he rockets bravely through space.

Approaching the Unknown Official Trailer #1 (2016) - Mark Strong, Luke Wilson Movie HD

[L.J.]

Hadn't heard of this till now looks good.

[Foggy]

I think being blasted off into space is pretty suitable punishment for agreeing to do Grimsby.

[Dalekbuster523Bluray]

That looks unbelievably cool.

[L-Rouge]

hints of 2001 with the paint nebula effect. Initial thoughts were, "not Mars again". Nicely there looks to be hints of diversity of subject.

this genre has become quite popular.

[Will.]

I loved The Martian but I like my space adventures more serious, and I love Mark Strong.

[roywilbury]

Watched this last night on Amazon, as I’m usually all for a hard sci-fi, space-themed film, even when I know it’s going to be a low-budget potential slog.

I think the descriptions and obvious limited budget already kind of tip the hat that the movie is possibly going to be more of a “solitude in space” sort of thing than a big Mars surface exploration film.

Overall, I enjoyed the film enough. It’s pretty slow. The lead is pretty solid having to carry almost the entire film on his own. He’s appropriately a bit bland and detached. I think, even within the confines of a one-man-in-a-spaceship movie, this thing moves excessively slowly in spots.

It kind of shifts gears from a pretty realistic, hard sci-fi thing into more of a personal story with the guy trying to fight some sort of personal demons. But he’s not fleshed out enough to make it super interesting. There are threads of a Heston-type “Planet of the Apes” misanthropy in the guy, but we don’t get much detail. Is he misanthropic, or just stubborn? They also frustrating stifle the film’s level of scientific detail. They explain things to a point, and then after that you’re just left wondering whether anything going on in the film is scientifically at all realistic.

Those hoping for even a sort of “Event Horizon” tense/horror thing will be disappointed (I’m not saying they ever marketed the film at all as a horror movie; I’ve paid little attention to the little marketing blurbs).

Overall, it was indeed on a “Europa Report” sort of vibe and quality level. Perhaps a bit more potent in concept in a few spots than “Europa”, but also more slow and tedious due to not having as large of a cast.

[Will.]

Didn't even know this was on Amazon. Will check it out soon.