Stowaway – A Thin and Shallow Derivative Space Drama

Stowaway is perhaps a film that has fallen under the radar. Showing up on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video depending on the country, this smaller-scale space drama won’t set the world on fire by any means but still offers a solid, albeit thin and derivative sci-fi tale lifted by the strength of its cast. Because the film brings nothing new whatsoever to the table, its cast is its saving grace, especially as its a touch longer than it probably should have been. Beyond that cast, anything else that the film offers essentially doesn’t matter. The story doesn’t matter, the characters don’t matter, and the end result doesn’t matter. That being said, the film does offer some good will with a somewhat compelling central story in spite of its shallowness and slower pace which only accentuated its flaws and was decent on a technical level from the set design, to the score, and the cinematography.

Suffice it to say if the film is sure to lose viewers early on with a story that seemingly goes nowhere. Stowaway takes place in some near future and follows a team of astronauts on a mission to Mars. Little did they know, Marina Barnett (Collette), Zoe Levenson (Kendrick), David Kim (Kim) were merely on another mission whose purpose will be quickly lost on most viewers until they, as the film title suggests, came across a stowaway on board. Michael Adams (Anderson) was found unconscious and bleeding hours after launch. The circumstances behind why he was found there did not matter but his role seemingly was to upset the careful dynamic of the other three. However, that disruption unsurprisingly became something much more than that and put the lives of the other astronauts at risk. There was more to that though it didn’t matter either. Instead of devolving into empty melodrama, the characters reverted to their cliched nature, staying in those lanes in service of the film’s derivative story.

Featuring little to no character development, Stowaway is mostly on the dull side with little conflict to be had but despite that, its few emotional beats still hit for the most part though their impact were minimal at best. The end also won’t come as that much of a surprise to anyone either. Even with its abrupt nature with little to no resolution, most will simply be glad that it’s over. The lack of character development just made it hard to care either way. While the story and characters may be incredibly shallow, what ultimately keeps the film above water if not slightly, was its performances. They certainly made the best of what was mediocre material as the story was built off the back of thin and cliched characters. The chemistry of Collette, Kendrick, Kim, and Anderson at least kept things interesting as Barnett, Levenson, Kim, and Adams respectively. However, the thinness of Anderson’s Adams was particularly disappointing as he was more of a plot device to create some manufactured conflict than an actual character with something to actually contribute to the story.

At the end of the day, Stowaway only goes as far as its cast takes it. Fans of them will find enough to enjoy here in spite of its issues but others will simply keep scrolling through their respective catalogues.

still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.