VOYAGERS : Wednesday 21st April 2021.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'VOYAGERS' at my local multiplex last week. This American Sci-Fi drama is Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Neil Burger whose prior film making credits take in 2002's 'Interview with the Assassin', 2006's 'The Illusionist', 2011's 'Limitless', 2014's 'Divergent' and 2017's remake of the acclaimed French film 'The Intouchables' with 'The Upside'. Originally slated for a release at the end of November 2020, the film was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was released earlier this month. The film cost US$29M to produce, has so far recouped US$3.5M and has garnered mixed critical reviews so far.

The film opens up in 2063 and we are told that the future of planet Earth is doomed due to the ravages of climate change, drought, and disease. The only alternative for any hope of humankind surviving is to find a planet capable of sustaining life as we know it, and lo and behold, one such planet does exist. The problem is that it will take eighty-six years to get there. So, the powers that be, breed a crew of brilliant cadets who will live in sterile conditions from the moment they are born by artificial means, and will not know of life outside the confines of the purpose built space station they inhabit until such time as they are old enough to launch for that far away planet. The aim is that when they board the ship, they will in time procreate during their long journey into deep space with the intention that their grandchildren will start over on the distant planet. Enter Richard (Colin Farrell) a scientist, who up to now has played a pivotal role in the upbringing of the cadets from their very earliest days and wants to join them on their mission, even though he knows it is a one way ticket and he will not live long enough to see the journey through. He persuades the mission commander to let him go, meaning that they will be able to bring the launch date forward from seven years hence to four years. And so the thirty or so young children with Richard take off leaving our humble blue planet behind. 

And so as the months turn into years, we fast forward ten years into their eighty-six year journey and the cadets are now young adults. There is Christopher (Tye Sheridan), chief medical officer Sela (Lily-Rose Depp) and Zac (Fionn Whitehead) amongst others. The crew busy themselves by making repairs, growing their own food, keeping fit, and studying and they all appear to get along with one another in a state of peaceful harmony. Of course part of their daily routine is eating together in the mess hall, which includes sipping back a shot of 'blue' which they have been told is for their general health. In reality it is designed to suppress emotions, urges, jealousy and anger. Christopher and Zac begin to question what the blue is really for and what is contained therein. Some further digging reveals the truth, and so they decide to stop drinking it and convince some of the others to do likewise. 

Within a few days a sensory awakening occurs in each one which leads them to take risks including to wrestle in the gym, to touch a member of the opposite sex and to run down the narrow corridors of the ship (all of which were previously against the rules and strictly forbidden). Then one day there's a problem with the comms link which means that Richard has to venture outside the ship on a spacewalk to rectify the issue. He elects for Zac to go with him, but in preparing to suit up Zac starts coming onto Sela. Sela backs away none too pleased with Zac's advances just as Richard enters the airlock. A scuffle ensues and Zac flees into the ship. In his place Richard chooses Christopher to accompany him. While on their space walk tethered to the main body of the ship, with all the crew closely monitoring their every move, a black mass suddenly appears from nowhere, engulfs Richard and sends him reeling backwards into the dark void of space, albeit still tethered. Christopher pulls him in and once back inside the ship he is attended to quickly by Sela. He is badly burned to his hand, arm, neck and face and subsequently dies on the table. Zac claims that the black mass was an alien, and that Richard and/or Christopher possibly brought it onto the ship with them, inside their bodies.

With Richard no more, a new Chief Officer needs to be appointed. Zac puts his hand up straight away but Phoebe (Chante Adams) who is the one that can be relied upon as the straight-talking no nonsense voice of reason follows the rules and states that an election needs to be held. And so the crew all vote and Christopher is declared the winner and the new Chief Officer, much to Zac's surprise and consternation. And so the rebellious Zac starts to tell his ardent followers to ignore their designated duties and responsibilities and basically do as they please. At the same time he spreads increasing paranoia about the presence of the alien aboard the ship, which is only heightened from time to time when mysterious creaks, groans, rattles and unexplained sounds emanate around the ship. And, all the while he is undermining Christopher's attempts to exert his authority and instil a sense of order. When a fire breaks out on the ship all of the comms go down and the surveillance footage is destroyed. It's repairable, but will take time and every crew member is deployed round the clock to bring the ship back up to fully functioning order. 

Meanwhile, Christopher has retrieved the archived footage of the incident outside the ship that cost Richard his life. From it he learns that Zac and his offsider Kal (Archie Madekwe) sent a powerful electrical surge to Richard's suit, and this is what killed him and not some trumped up story about an alien. Christopher reveals this truth to the gathered crew in the mess hall and needless to say Christopher and Zac's relationship comes to a head when Zac announces that he is taking over the reins as the self appointed Chief Officer because Christopher has no clue. 

Zac encourages those that want to follow him can, and so all but five choose to go with Zac. What ensues is an all out race for supremacy with Zac gaining the upper hand at every turn it seems. He finds a stash of weapons concealed in a secret room that are meant for the third generation and so arms his followers to the teeth, while Christopher and Sela have nothing more than a scalpel with which to defend themselves. 

On the run now and fearful for their lives with very few places to hide, Christopher and Sela make the best of a bad situation while Zac is now mightily pissed off and baying for blood. The pair run down the corridors with Zac following closely behind, firmly bolting closed every door behind them, until they run out of doors and come to the airlock. Christopher and Sela suit up, secure themselves as best they are able, and open the airlock door, just as Zac on the other side blasts open the remaining door to the room. He is immediately sucked out but manages to cling on to Christopher as the two battle it out for the upper hand. Christopher who has the protection of a space suit loses his grip on Zac who is wearing nothing but a T-shirt and track pants and is fighting against the freezing temperatures of deep space. Christopher is sucked out and disappears from view. Sela meanwhile launches herself feet first directly at Zac who is caught off guard and is propelled into deep space never to be seen again. She clings on to the airlock door and steadies herself as Christopher comes back into view.

And so with Zac gone, his followers down their weapons and some sense of normalcy is restored. Sela is voted as the new Chief Officer and she seems to be more capable than the previous two. We then fast forward down through the years and see that Sela and Christopher give birth to a son, who grows up with a whole bunch of other youngsters on board. In time, the space ship is seen to be descending on to its destination planet with aged second generation crew and younger third generation crew peering out of the window as the Earth like planet below comes into view.  

With nods to 'Lord of the Flies' and 'Passengers' this nurture versus nature space romp in which the testosterone goes off the scale while the female crew are there seemingly only to provide eye candy, certainly looks the part, has some solid enough set pieces, and the Direction is deftly handled by film maker Burger. The YA Actors and the characters they portray are all largely one dimensional, aside from the three principle leads in Whitehead, Sheridan and Depp who prop up the rest of the cast and carry the film on their slender shoulders. This is predictable territory albeit reasonably well realised, it plods along for a goodly while without much really going on apart from a few cross words and a gnashing of teeth, and when the end comes there's nothing new to see here that we haven't seen countless times before.

'Voyagers' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-