Spaceman

A visually stunning yet aimless movie that asks questions it doesn't really ever answer. If this is utter nonsense, then you now understand the average moviegoer watching Spaceman. While this movie relies heavily on themes of rekindling relationships and struggling through trauma, it hardly manages to come to a solid conclusion on most of it and ends up feeling like a slog of a movie as a result of its bizarre pacing choices. But, with a stellar cast, this movie does end up being engaging enough. This is Spaceman!

PLOT: A slog of a story.

This is by far the worst part of this movie. The story is about a Czech spaceman encountering a comsmic being similar to a spider who tries to help him with his dying relationship as the two drift through space. Meanwhile, his wife attempts to console herself about the death of their relationship while managing her own losses. Despite a beautifully strange premise, this movie slogs along to the end purely on the basis of its location and atmosphere. The spider, while interesting and keeping things fresh, uses flashbacks of Earth to convey what the characters go through. While people staring at each other and talking can be interesting, something has to happen to make it engaging. What could be amazing ends up boring due to its runtime. Cut out about a half hour and this film would work a lot better.

CHARACTERS: Well-acted and beautiful.

Adam Sandler, Paul Dano, and Carey Mulligan take what's not a great plot and elevate it beyond what it could be. With all three actors playing their parts beautifully, the characters keep this film engaging. While the side characters are all good, this film would not work nowhere near as well if not for that. It helps as well that the story plays into their isolation and each actor manages to deliver this isolation quite well. Give Adam Sandler more serious work, please.

SHOTS: Stunning.

It's a general rule that movies in space are always beautiful. However, with the cinematographer behind Chernobyl, this film ends up looking mostly like a cosmic object: otherworldly, yet beautiful. Shades of colors that act as eye candy, a subtle horror given to the giant spider to make this film feel darker, and shots of a gorgeous space anomaly that ultimately delivers a majority of the film's memorable moments. Just stunning.

SOUND: Beautiful.

Max Richter was the man responsible for this soundtrack and he's so amazing in his craft. The creator of one of the greatest pieces of tragic music ever, "On the Nature of Daylight", Max Richter lends his unique sound to this movie to create a soundtrack to give you the feelings of a relationship lost and a grieving mother, as well as the emptiness of a creature without a home or anyone left to call family. It's heartbreaking and delivers all the correct beats needed for such an emotional story despite its many bumps.

WRITING: Intriguing.

While certainly over-written at times and not selling me on the story, the best moments are the ones featuring Adam Sandler and Paul Dano. These two interact so well and have such well-written dialogue that I feel as though this was meant to be a short film prior to it being a full-feature. That being said, some of it is very expository and relies less on viewer interpretation. This might be what ultimately kills the plot simply because of overwriting. Chernobyl, Johan Renck's previous mainstream work, had excellent dialogue and was stronger for it. However, with a clearly worse writer, this film struggles to hold attention.

LITTLE THINGS: The Sandman

Adam Sandler, get a better agent. This movie shows your acting ability beyond a shadow of a doubt and is your best performance I've seen in years. Gutwrenching, agonizing, and just beyond a shadow of a doubt beautiful. Sadly, with films every other year that drag your filmography down, I hope that this guy gets more legitimate work in the future.

VERDICT: A struggling film that tries its very best.

A film I really can't say is great, but is good enough. It services its themes well and manages to get emotional moments done beautifully. However, a bad story kills any film before it can get out the door and ultimately this film has that. That being said, points for its raw beauty otherwise. Watch this for Adam Sandler and Paul Dano!

SCORE: 6/10, just good enough