Slingshot

Slingshot is primarily a psychological drama, which happens to be set in a Science Fiction universe. But anyone going to this movie hoping for a space actioner or some space opera will leave very disappointed.

In a twisty turny narrative that could have been shortened by 15 or 20 minutes without losing any impact, the three lead actors give outstanding performances, but there is a lot of repetition, and the middle third of the film really drags.

At the same time, it certainly keeps you thinking, and the ending is extremely gripping and tense.

This is not a film at the same level as Space Odyssey, Or Solaris. But if you have a brain and you want to be provoked into thinking about the nature of love and humanity faced by existential crises this is not a bad movie at all.

Set on board the Odyssey-1 spacecraft, crew John (Casey Affleck), Nash (Tomer Capone), and Captain Franks (Laurence Fishburne) are 9 months into a journey to Saturn's moon of Titan where they will use Jupiter's gravity for a slingshot maneuver. As the months wear on and John and the rest of the crew experience mental and physical exhaustion from the hypersleep cycles tensions continue to build upon the crew as John experiences hallucinations of his ex-girlfriend Zoe (Emily beecham).

Slingshot is a psychological sci-fi thriller directed by Mikael Hafstrom and written by R. Scott Adams and Nathan Parker. Hafstrom had apparently acquired the script for quite some time and was interested in its confined nature and compared it in spirit to 1408 which like Slingshot was also a confined chamber piece but with Slingshot more science-fiction as opposed to 1408's Supernatural thriller. Slingshot is certainly a very handsome and well-acted production, but unfortunately it's also very familiar and goes in a direction that's overly familiar for this kind of story.

In terms of the cast, I felt like Casey Affleck, laurence Fishburne, and Tomer Capone do quite well in their roles as the three crewman who go from a cordial and professional working relationship to a greater buildup of tension, unease, and distrust as the events move forward. Structurally speaking Hafstrom uses flashbacks to flesh out Casey Affleck's character in much the same way he did John Cusack's character in 1408, but where that film used it to effectively analyze that character's unprocessed grief and survivor's guilt, Slingshot uses it to build-up a not very interesting love story where Emily Beecham and Casey Affleck's relationship just isn't that interesting or worth emotional investment. As a chamber piece the movie does give our actors a good chance to create engaging portraits of men eroding under pressure and isolation, but unfortunately the payoff to the journey isn't all that satisfying and it really only served to remind me of how much better this kind of premise was done in something like Alexandre Aja's Oxygen.

If you're a die-hard sci-fi fan there is good stuff to appreciate here especially as it relates to the acting and production design, but the uninvolved love story and underwhelming payoff make it difficult to recommend outside of genre die hards/faithful whose enjoyment of this movie will still be marked with an asterisk.

There's a moment right at the end that would have elevated this film to something really worth recommending. Some movies greatly benefit from a conclusion open to interpretation. This is one of them. It gave me the same feeling I had all those years ago watching Total Recall. But they didn't do that here. The final scene is very clear and I think that was a poor choice. Unless the focus is commentary on human behavior, in which case it makes sense. Still, the alternative would have been spectacular.

How cool is Laurence Fishburne? He's been one of my favorite actors since Event Horizon + The Matrix, and in each project following that he never misses. Role of the captain he plays is pretty much perfect. Even when the twists, turns and second-guessing begins, it still fits whatever outcome you may have in mind. That kind of presence and versatility is pure talent, and I never get tired of seeing it. Everybody else does a great job in their respective roles, but Morpheus steals the show.

They likely could have removed 15 minutes and the film would have been better for it. You can definitely feel some drag. While this doesn't outright ruin anything, I probably would have rated it higher otherwise.

The best part of this movie is the ending, which will deceive the viewer several times. Laurence Fishburne played his role, as always, perfectly. Casey Affleck did well, but I was never impressed by his performance, although this is just my personal subjective judgment. Yes, it's not easy to watch this movie to the end, and this is its main disadvantage, it was especially hard for me to watch Affleck's caramel flashbacks, but I still watched this movie - the film turned out to be quite good. Given the complexity of the plot and ambiguous characters, it is impossible not to mention the merits of the director. Visual style, musical accompaniment - all this works to create a unique closed atmosphere. The film may not become a cult classic, but it definitely deserves the attention of those who like thoughtful and ambiguous stories.

The script lacks in the science and engineering department, and the characters seem incompetent.

Within the first 20 minutes, we already know the main protagonist is an unreliable narrator who exudes whatever the opposite of confidence and leadership is. His crewmate is similarly unreliable, talking behind the captains back. The captain calls the spaceship an 'aircraft' and handwave-explains 'fatigue and buckling' despite there being no explanation for what would cause cyclic stresses on the structure. We also got in the first 30 minutes that their mission is to reach Titan's methane, to make fuel, to somehow solve climate change. It all just sounds like mumbo-jumbo written by an arts student.

You need something like Andy Weir's 'The Martian' or the upcoming Project Hail Mary adaption; i.e. The best-of-the-best astronauts being actually believable world-class highly trained and skilled experts and problem-solvers. The physics doesn't have to be 100% in a sci-fi (Interstellar worked pretty well throughout bar that one line about love transcending space and time), but for any deviations the characters have to 100% support the narrative for it to be believed by the audience. These astronauts are immediately whispering to each other about mutiny from the start... and keep forgetting that there's audiovideo recording in each room allowing the captain to hear the sceme. I can't believe that these characters are actually astronauts.

Please please please stop with this artificially induced drama hinging on main characters being incompetent, keeping secrets from each other, or scheming against each other for no good reaon. Stop with the secrets which the 3rd party witnesses... It's like where movies have 2 people talk or kiss, for the 3rd jealous person to spot it or to get the wrong impression. It's a frustrating cliche. If the drama would be resolved by one character speaking one sentence to another character, it's weak writing.

With Insterstellar, I felt awe that made my arm hairs stand on end. With Slingshot I just feel frustrated and claustrophobic. Slingshot is weak writing.