Magellan

I am an actor and this is actually my first review on ImdB. I chose to write this review to encourage movies like this to continue to be produced. It was a great effort on a shoestring (~$80K) budget, and a great sci fi plot similar to Mission to Mars (one of my top 10) mixed with Contact and 2001. It held my attention and was entertaining.

Yes, there were some unanswered questions in the storyline, there were one or two plot holes, and the ending was perhaps setting itself up for a sequel, but that would be okay in my book. I found it interesting, well acted overall, and worth the time spent. Also, the cinematography was spectacular!

Story line is good but everything you know about science is completely absent .

MAGELLAN tells the story of an astronaut sent into deep space to try and find three sources of signals being sent to to Earth. Most of it focuses on the experiences of the lone astronaut, which suggests a loose comparison to 2009's MOON, which was a much better movie.

The cinematography here is good, and the movie reels in the audience as the astronaut finds each of the sources of the signals. However without spoiling the ending, it leaves the audience with no answers, only more questions, and an unsatisfactory feeling of being invested in the story.

The first thing about this film that every viewer needs to realize is that it was done with an extremely low budget. No flash and glamour in this one. However, this is a thought provoking film. The screenplay was well written and Brandon Ray Olive gave a great performance as Commander Roger Nelson. I was so entranced as the story unfolded, that I did not care about the low budget props. Even though, i thought the set scenery for Mars was well done. This movie was able to thread many real scientific theories and suppositions, and tickled your imagination for the possibility of life beyond earth. An expedition that was curiosity driven, but yet demonstrated the very human element of a relationship being fractured by the extended voyage of a married astronaut who is struggling with the anguish of being separated from his spouse for an extended period of time. The voices of A.I., Ferdinand and Neil, were both well done. This movie will appeal to those who prefer a well written script over spectacular special effects. I'm sure if this movie had a 20 million dollar budget, it could compete with the Sci Fi movies produced by Hollywood. This movie is an example of metaphoric saying, "having nothing but lemons and making lemonade."

I really wanted to like this movie, but I just couldn't. Forget the bargain-barrel sets and special effects; the story-line and plot devices just didn't hang together, and were derivative of half a dozen other -- much better -- science fiction movies (Contact, 2001, etc.). Neither NASA, nor any other nation's space agency, would send a lone astronaut on a multi-year deep space mission; there would be a crew of several people. The protocols he follows for taking samples are on par with a junior high school field trip to the beach. And that the lead character would so easily leave his wife behind while he was away on a 10-year mission is just not believable.

This movie could have been so much better than it was. But it wasn't.