{"id":1116,"date":"2017-05-06T07:28:09","date_gmt":"2017-05-06T07:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/2017\/05\/06\/httptheblurb-com-aureviewsthe-space-between-us-movie-review\/"},"modified":"2017-05-06T07:28:09","modified_gmt":"2017-05-06T07:28:09","slug":"httptheblurb-com-aureviewsthe-space-between-us-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/httptheblurb-com-aureviewsthe-space-between-us-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The Space Between Us – movie review"},"content":{"rendered":"

The kid who fell to Earth?<\/p>\n

In 2018 a small group of astronauts head off to live on Mars in an experimental colony known as East Texas. This space mission is the brainchild of Nathaniel Shepherd (Gary Oldman), a billionaire entrepreneur clearly modelled on Richard Branson, who is the CEO of Genesis Space Technologies. But unknown to the mission organisers until it is too late, Sarah Elliott (Janet Montgomery), the pioneering female astronaut in charge of the mission, is pregnant. Once on Mars she gives birth to her son Gardner, but dies during childbirth. Shepherd and his team cover up Gardner\u2019s existence and lie about the cause of Sarah\u2019s death for fear that it may compromise further missions and lead to a reduction in funding.<\/p>\n

\"\"Cut to sixteen years later. Gardner (played by Asa Butterfield, from Hugo<\/i>) is now a curious teen who wants to learn more about his unknown father. The only clue he has to his identity is a photograph of his mother with a man on the veranda of a house by the ocean. He has been raised in a bubble by scientists, but is curious about Earth. The only understanding he has of Earth and its culture and social mores has been gleaned from watching old movies like Wim Wenders\u2019 Wings of Desire<\/i> and old instructional videos. However, he has been told that because he was born on Mars his body wouldn\u2019t be able to handle the Earth\u2019s atmosphere and its gravity. His bones are too brittle to handle Earth\u2019s environment.<\/p>\n

Gardner has also been skyping Tulsa (Britt Robertson, from The Longest Ride<\/i>), a tomboyish and street smart teenaged girl who lives in Colorado and is the product of the foster care system. She is tough, cynical, and defensive. Gardner has told her that he lives in an apartment in New York and that a rare illness has kept him isolated, which is why he can\u2019t meet her. Both are misfits and loners and there is an immediate connection between them.<\/p>\n

Eventually Gardner is able to convince his fellow astronauts to allow him to visit Earth. After some radical surgery to strengthen his body, Gardner is accompanied by Kendra (Carla Gugino), a fellow scientist who has protected him on Mars and become something of a surrogate mother. But once on Earth and in the NASA facility, Gardner escapes and makes his way to Colorado to meet his interplanetary pen pal Tulsa.<\/p>\n

At first, she is suspicious of Gardner and his story of being raised on Mars, but she soon comes to help him on his mission to try and locate his father. Meanwhile the pair are being pursued by Shepherd and Kendra. They need to return Gardner to Mars quickly as his body cannot handle Earth\u2019s environment and the large levels of tropamine in his body is slowly killing him. Thankfully the tomboyish Tulsa can ride motorbikes and fly an old crop duster bi-plane, which they use to elude the authorities.<\/p>\n

The Space Between Us<\/i> has been written by Allan Loeb (the recent Collateral Beauty<\/i><\/a>) and first time script writers Richard Barton Lewis, and Stewart Schill (a former editor who has worked extensively on TV series like Dexter<\/i>). This is essentially another coming-of-age tale and teen romance about a pair of star crossed lovers mixed with elements of the typical road movie, albeit with a backdrop of sci-fi. It fits comfortably into the genre of YA fiction popular with filmmakers at the moment. There is an element of John Carpenter\u2019s Starman<\/i> about the film. It will also remind some of Nicolas Roeg\u2019s 1976 film The Man Who Fell to Earth<\/i>, which starred David Bowie as an alien adjusting to life on Earth.<\/p>\n

The director is Brit Peter Chelsom, a journeyman filmmaker whose credits include Funny Bones, Hear My Song, <\/i>and Hector and the Search for Happiness<\/i>, and he does a good job of keeping things moving at a fast pace. There is a certain level of sentimentality and mawkishness about the material, particularly in the final scenes. But the film is let down by some cheesy dialogue and a surfeit of lazy clich\u00e9s.<\/p>\n

Both stars have dabbled in sci-fi before \u2013 Butterfield with Ender\u2019s Game<\/i>, and Robertson with Tomorrowland<\/i> \u2013 and they seem comfortable with the make-believe nature of the material. Butterfield has grown up in both size and maturity since Hugo<\/i>, and is now a tall and gangly youth; but his physique is perfect for conveying Gardner\u2019s awkward gait on Earth. He delivers yet another solid performance here and he manages to capture that same childlike demeanour, naivety and innocence that he also conveyed so effectively in Hugo<\/i>. There are some brief flashes of humour throughout the material as Gardner asks everyone he meets: \u201cWhat is your favourite thing about Earth?\u201d<\/p>\n