Voyagers

A group of youngsters are sent into deep space, in order to search for a new home, and build a better world, things however don't go according to plan.

The combination of Colin Farrell, sci fi story, and evident budget gave me real hopes that this was going to be a cracking film....

...Sadly it wasn't, it was quite unimaginative, and despite looking great, it was actually hard to stay concentrated on it, because it was sadly, just dull.

A very interesting first 10 minutes or so, then it descends into sci fi opera, a Lord of The Flies story which sadly lacked any real sense of appeal.

Farrell was good, but should have had a much bigger part, the interest went along with his character.

Hoped for a lot, was ultimately disappointed, 5/10.

This movie is actually quite intriguing for the first 40 minutes or so. The set design is excellent, and along with cold emotionless expressions on the actors and shots of the mundane lives of the would-be colonists, helps to establish a plausible set-up with tons of potential. They know they're the first generation of a ship on a multi-generational voyage to colonize another planet, and may also be humanity's last hope of survival. Their grim personas express their awareness of this fact and that the mission is paramount. There's even a mysterious hint at an unexpected presence on the ship to add to the suspense.

Don't bother watching the second half though. As a lot of other reviews have mentioned, it tries to adapt a plot similar to Lord of the Flies, however the big difference here is that these teenagers are supposed to have been highly trained for this mission their entire lives, and are literally the future of humanity. They're not a ragtag group of students on a deserted island struggling for survival.

I don't think I need to use any spoilers for you to imagine how trying to shoehorn the Lord of the Flies plot into this situation leads to a trainwreck of a last half. The script takes a sharp turn into utter nonsense with ridiculous dialogue and characters actions. It is truly such a pity and a waste of a great set-up.

I will say that I was impressed with the performance of Tye Sheridan in particular, and Colin Farrell can rarely do wrong as well. The other main actors were decent at best, or just too weighed down by atrocious dialogue to make anything of their performances.

I'd recommend watching the first 40min or so (8/10) and then just walking away and imagining your own conclusion. Anything would be better than what transpired in the last half of Voyagers.

Many very shallow comments call this "Lord of the Flies in Space", or something akin to that. Doing so, or thinking so, misses the point completely. I'd say this movie has more in common with "Pleasantville" where the writer-director asked the question "Is it better to live in a totally safe, predictable world or in one where you have choices and can make mistakes?"

The hook here is 40+ years in the future and we are beginning to worry about long term viability of the Human species on Earth. So a voyage is planned to an inhabitable planet, even traveling at a very high speed will take 86 years to get there.

So the plan involves creating roughly 30 babies by conception and delivery in a lab, using genetics of intelligent and successful donors. The subjects are raised, educated, and trained in isolation so they have no attachment to the real world. During the 86-year trip they would reproduce and their grandchildren would become the settlers of the new planet.

While the ending has a satisfying statement the real story is during the trip itself, roughly ten years into it, when some then most of the voyagers begin to exercise free will, some don't care if the mission succeeds, "we will all die anyway." The question ultimately becomes "What is our true nature and can we learn to care about others and do things for the common good?"

My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library, a fine movie and much better than its IMDb rating would suggest.

Subpar flick lacking anything worth mentioning. The trailer was probably the best thing about this film and after watching the film you realise the trailer was waaaay better, the viiibes etc, rather cool.

Depp's daughter though, has a potential to be a good actress, just isn't quite there yet.

This is a movie that treats teenagers like extreme idiots, plain and simple. It's unfortunate that there wasn't a deeper character development (there was none) and just plainly stated "teens are dumb so this all happens". I mean, the premise of the movie is cool, some new ideas, and the overall idea the movie explores is amazing to think about, but this movie didn't want to be something special. It took a interesting topic and reduced the characters to characterizations.