‘Heartbreaking’ sci-fi movie with ‘out of this world’ performances streaming now | Films | Entertainment

A “heartbreaking” sci-fi drama film with acting that’s “out of this world” is streaming now in the UK. Stowaway (2021) focuses on a team of scientists who set off on a two-year mission to Mars only to discover a support technician who was knocked unconscious pre-launch and became an accidental extra passenger.

The stowaway became entangled in the CO2 removal system when the accident occurred, and the critical life support mechanism is damaged when he comes to and falls down into the crew’s cabin. The scientists comfort the panicked technician after he realises what happened – but with resources already limited, it dawns on the crew that they’ll soon have to confront a terrible moral quandry.

The cast includes Toni Collete, Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, and Shamier Anderson. It was directed by Joe Penna, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Ryan Morrison.

One audience reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes called it “absolutely one of the best, most emotional movies I’ve seen in a while”, adding that the ending was “absolutely heartbreaking”.

Another hailed it as: “Wonderfully heartfelt sci-fi”, with acting that’s “out of this world”. “Highly recommend.”

A third wrote: “This movie ended much differently than I anticipated. My heart was beating out of my chest and the ending is bittersweet. I highly recommend this movie.”

Not everyone was taken with its premise, with one writing: “The human drama is engaging, if a little slow paced, but the crisis and solution to it are just completely implausible.”

Another added: “While beautifully filmed and well acted, this movie has pacing issues that make it tedious. I say skip it unless you just want to watch it for the visuals knowing you’re going to see a long, sad moral dilemma that comes from a highly unlikely premise.”

But others insisted it’s well worth a watch and told viewers to ignore the naysayers. “This is a fantastic film,” one of them wrote.

“I was gripped from start to finish, the tension (and the vertigo) towards the end was so great I had to close my eyes in parts.

“Characters you care about makes the stakes even higher and the ending even more moving. Ignore the negative comments, see it and decide for yourself. I don’t think you’ll regret it.”

Stowaway is streaming now on Netflix in the UK.