Re:tro Re:view - The Space Between Us!

Ok, I passed up The Space Between Us (2017) because of negative reviews and it failed at the box office. I did the same with The Great Wall (2016), I stayed away, I thought I knew what to expect. I didn't just like The Space Between Us, I love it! It ranks as my top 5 movie of 2017! It greatly reminded me of the Robert Heinlein novel, Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) about a man, Valentine Michael Smith, who comes to Earth to grok and use his Martian powers. This is superior since it is a teen romance that also smacks of Star Man (1984), a little of Mission to Mars (2000) in reverse, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).  This film, directed by Peter Chelsom, is not interested in extraterrestrial life or metaphysical things, this is about humanity.  The film is currently available on Blu Ray, DVD, or Digital HD.

Gary Oldman plays Nathaniel Shepherd, a man who is similar to Elon Musk, helping NASA with it's space program with ambitions to start a colony on Mars. The lead astronaut is Sarah Elliot (Janet Montgomery). The NASA rep is Tom Chen played by BD Wong, kinda the anti-Dr. Henry Wu from Jurassic Park (1993).  They discover that Sarah is two months pregnant during the flight to Mars. Nathaniel decides to cover it up or the mission will be cancelled. She delivers the baby in secret on the Mars East Texas colony, but it is a difficult child birth.  The baby, Gardner, has been in zero-g, and will find it difficult to return to Earth.  Nathaniel wanted to travel to Mars, but his medical condition makes this risky (yeah, I guessed the secret, but didn't care!). Sixteen years later and Gardner has been raised by scientists.  His only friend is the robot Centaur. 

Gardner's name reminds me of Chancey Gardener played by Peter Sellers in Being There (1979).  Side note: if you have not seen that film, then you have missed one of Sellers' best performances.  Gardner is played by Asa Butterworth.  Perfect casting, Asa has an almost otherwordly look, he was previously in Ender's Game (2013).  He is also raised by another astronaut, Kendra (Carla Gugino) who has some genre credits to her cv.  Gardner is contacting a teen girl on Earth named Tulsa.  She is played by Britt Robertson, who also played a teen girl in Tomorrowland (2015) and also a teen girl in the Secret Circle (2011) series, the girl never ages!  Tulsa lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a foster child with of course musical talent.  The technology has just been upgraded to glass computers.  Gardner discovers a photo of his family and wants to find them. 

He is given an operation to put in carbon fibers to strengthen his bones, brittle growing up on Mars, Wolverine without the claws!  Gardner is cleared to return to Earth.  He lands on a pad built on the water outside of the Kennedy Space Center.  Gardner has to wear sunglasses to stop the glare of the sun, he is amazed at the ocean, and many other things that are nice touches to a Martian coming to his home planet.  Nathaniel is amazed at Gardner.  The teen escapes from NASA suspecting that they want him to return to Mars.  Nathaniel and Kendra chase after him worried that his condition will worsen.  Gardner reaches Tulsa and she slaps him thinking he ghosted her.  Then, they are on a cross country trip to find his father.  Love it.  The perspective of Gardner seeing the Earth makes this film beautiful, it makes you appreciate this world the same as Gardner.  

Five Centaurs out of Five!

#TheS[aceBetweenUs,, #PeterChelsom, #AsaBtterworth, #BrittRobertson