Photo courtesy of Nickon, Wikipedia
"The Space Between Us” is a beautiful romance movie with little hints of science fiction thrown into it and a pretty interesting plot idea. This movie has a very nice feel to it; viewers will be captivated throughout the film’s runtime by the beautiful cinematography used throughout. This movie is about a boy who was secretly born on Mars after his mother, Sarah Elliot (Janet Montgomery), was sent to space to live on Mars for four years. Sarah dies giving birth to him and the plot jumps to 16 years later, where the boy, Gardner Elliot (Asa Butterfield) is now a teenager and has an online friendship with a girl named Tulsa (Britt Robertson). Gardner is finally allowed to come to Earth, but when he gets there he is forced to stay in the NASA facility. He then escapes from the facility to go see his online friend, with the hope that she will help him find his father, of whom he has only a photograph.
Throughout their adventures they get closer as friends, with various funny and awkward moments occurring between them. The movie is filled with beautiful scenes that were shot to perfection; the space and flight scenes are particularly awe-inspiring. The movie’s editing is excellent – the transitions between scenes are flawless and fluid. Aside from the great cinematography, the movie also has a unique idea for a plot: a child accidently born on a different planet is kept hidden from the world all his life.
However, as all movies are, it is slightly flawed. For instance, the characters seem very predictable in their personalities, leading to very few – if any – surprises throughout the movie. The characters’ personalities seem to flip-flop throughout the film, yet somehow remain extremely predictable with the main protagonist switching between being a genius to being oblivious. Another flaw, which is small but needs to be mentioned, is Gardner’s on-again, off-again confusion regarding Earthly customs. For example, he seemingly doesn’t understand sarcasm, which leads to a few awkward yet comedic moments. However, he uses sarcasm earlier in the movie before that moment – making the awkward moment feel very forced and fake. This can be seen in other examples, such as his failure to understand basic social norms, like not saying everything that’s on one’s mind whenever one wants. However, this movie continually talks about how he was raised with scientists, which is why he is supposed to be smart. Yet, he doesn't understand many of America’s cultural norms even though a scientist at the facility he lives on is seen using many social norms throughout the beginning of the film.
All in all, the movie was a nice romance that would be a great film to see with a significant other. Most of the flaws are forgivable and the plot itself is very interesting. This is definitely a movie that is worth seeing on a date.
jkirstei@ramapo.edu
