The Space Between Us starts off with an interesting premise, following the journey of the first human born on Mars as he travels to Earth in search of his father and experiences life outside of his Martian colony for the first time. However, the film quickly becomes bogged down by implausible plot points and a lackluster storyline.
One major issue is the premise itself, which requires a suspension of disbelief. The idea of a pregnant astronaut being allowed to go on a mission to Mars is realistically inaccurate. Astronauts are carefully monitored for health before being launched into space. I doubt a pregnancy would have slipped past the doctors. Whatev. We get to space and she has the baby. Of course, she dies in childbirth. Sorry, for that spoiler, but it’s not that interesting of a plot point. The child being raised on Mars is interesting. So we had to get through that absurdity to something interesting.
The kid, of course, wants to go to Earth. He’s a teenager now. Here, they stayed true to science. Mars has lower gravity, so he can’t go to Earth without dying. But eventually, they find a way to make a trip possible.
While the story briefly picks up once the protagonist, Gardner, arrives on Earth, it quickly becomes tedious as he and his love interest spend an excessive amount of time on the run from authorities. The film’s pacing suffers as a result, with long stretches of the movie feeling drawn out and unengaging.
Overall, while The Space Between Us may be of interest to fans of sci-fi romance films, it falls short in terms of logic and storytelling. It’s very predictable. Viewers who are willing to overlook its flaws may enjoy the film’s optimistic message about the power of human connection, but others may find themselves fast-forwarding through large parts of the movie like we did. The ending was satisfying. So, I’ll give it that. Still, it may take more than 3 beers to enjoy this one. The Husband Unit pretty much hated it, and even I got tired of it. Some crazy dance numbers would have helped… or land sharks… or dinosaurs eating people… maniacal robots… giant insects… a shorter sagging middle.. a few twists and turns… more logic… more time in space. Currently streaming on Netflix.
Okay, I probably didn’t make this sound appealing, but here’s the trailer:
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