The Space Between Us

The Space Between Us

Starring Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson, Gary Oldman, Carla Gugino
Directed by Peter Chelsom

The Story:
Nathaniel Shepherd (Gary Oldman) launches the first ever mission to colonize Mars, but unbeknownst to him, the crew's captain was pregnant, and after landing on Mars she gives birth to a baby boy.  He, along with his fellow scientists, decide to not announce the birth to the world for fear of bad press, and the child grows up in secret on Mars.

Sixteen years later the boy, Gardner Elliot (Asa Butterfield), is now an awkward teenager who is communicating with fellow awkward teenager Tulsa (Britt Robertson) on Earth, but she doesn't believe he lives on Mars.  He wants to go to Earth to see her and find his long-lost father that he's only seen in pictures and home videos, but his surrogate mother Kendra (Carla Gugino) has her doubts, as does Shepherd.  He fears Gardner won't survive on Earth due to its immense gravity that would affect Gardner's internal organs, but despite the warning he makes it to Earth.  He meets up with Tulsa and together they head to California to find Gardner's father, all the while dealing with Tulsa's doubts, his own failing health, and being pursued by Shepherd and Kendra. 

The Synopsis:
I watched this film about three weeks ago, but couldn't find it in myself to write a review for it.  This isn't because the film was terrible, because I really like writing about terrible movies ("Baywatch" for example), but "The Space Between Us" wasn't a bad film.  However, it wasn't good either, and I love writing about really good movies ("Wonder Woman" for obvious example).  "The Space Between Us" is the perfect title for this type of movie, because it falls exactly between great and terrible, and that is a very bad place to be in.

If the movie was great, I would shout it from the rooftops of its obvious greatness, and urge everyone I know and love to see it in order to better their lives.  If it was terrible, I would also show it from the rooftops how terrible it was, and encourage people to see it if they're looking for a cheap laugh.  As it is, it just fills space while you wait for something great or terrible to come along.  You won't remember it after you see it - for good or ill - and that's the main problem with it.

Everything about this film is vanilla.  Or the child vanilla spawns.  The acting can barely be registered on the scale, and that's a shame coming from veterans like Oldman and Gugino.  This lies with the complete lack of chemistry between the two leads, Asa Butterfield (who emerged in the emotionally heart-wrenching "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" - seriously, that's a film you should see) and Britt Robertson (who is quickly making a name for herself not just as Jennifer Lawrence's long-lost twin, but also the star of so-so sci-fi movies - remember "Tomorrowland?"  Neither do I).  Their chemistry is as powerful as mixing oxygen with oxygen, with Butterfield's naivety becoming annoying after the first act and Robertson's "I came from a broken home so I'm gonna be cynical and sarcastic to hide my true feelings" gets older than the actress really is (she's actually 27, trying to play a 16 year old, it's like "90210" nostalgia there).

There is one...one...ONE...decent part of the film, and it had to do with a conversation between Gardner and Tulsa (thanks imdb for posting the quotes, otherwise I would've totally forgotten them):
Tulsa: People don't go around saying what they feel, whenever they feel it.  They have guards, and shields and other metaphors.
Gardner: Why?
Tulsa: Because we're all messed up and scarred and trying to be something that we're not and if we all went around just declaring our innermost desires to the exact people we felt them for, we all end up happy or something.

First of all, that terrible dialogue.  "and other metaphors?"  "Happy, or something?"  Like, totally!  Let's be BFFs and drink Cappuccinos and talk ironically, okay?  Getting past that awful dialogue, there's a deeper message to it.  We do build up walls to keep people out, and we don't say the things we need to say to those who need to hear it in fears of what would happen if we did.  If we were more honest and transparent, and allow people to see who we really are, we might be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.  Won't happen, but it's worth a shot.

So back to the movie.  Predictable ending.  No real emotional depth.  Bad characters.  Terrible script written for the screen by Allan Loeb (the same butcher who wrote "Collateral Beauty").  Although a barn does blow up in true Michael Bay fashion when it really didn't need to.  That was neat.

The Summary:
"The Space Between Us" is a very apt title, as it serves to be the empty space between those films that are great, and those that are greatly terrible.  You won't remember much about it after watching, and that might be a good thing.  I don't know.  I can't remember much of it.

The Score: C