Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction… but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.
Ken befriends an entity and it becomes a buddy comedy.
We watched it in theatres with our buds! I initially was going to chatter through the whole movie and I shut the fuck up pretty quick. It was funny and heartfelt and, well, Rocky is adorable.
You become brave when you have someone to be brave for. Fuck dude, he sure did.
(written days later)
I’ve been mulling over how to write a review for this aside from “it was good”. And it was good! And it was heartfelt. Weighing one life against billions is a big thing, and watching this man who was terrified of sacrificing himself even at the cost of the world, who had no one who would really miss him… (“You have no family. You don’t even have a dog.”) It was revolutionary for this man to find companionship in deep space.
I went with some buds, and they pointed out some excellent things.
- Art is the universal language, not math. Art is accessible even when one doesn’t know the language or the symbols. Grace and Rocky often put on puppet shows to show each other things when words might fail them, and it fosters understanding between them that math would not be able to accomplish.
- Grace is an actually humble, insecure guy— he’s great at what he does but he isn’t really confident in his abilities at all. He understands what he does but the imposter syndrome has a chokehold on him. His self-doubt is evident throughout without being tainted by movie-man surety.
Rocky at first seems like a hyper-advanced alien, but he brings different concepts to the table. It’s not that the race is more advanced: they simply do things differently. Through art and a mutual goal and sharing of culture, the two form a strong bond that carries them through the loneliness of space. They’re both on the same mission, hopeful to save their own planets. It brings to them both a closeness that Grace didn’t realize he was craving and needing.
It fundamentally changes Grace and I love that. He found someone to sacrifice his life for, someone that gives him hope, and it’s an entirely platonic relationship with a being who doesn’t even have a face. They communicate with similar personalities and yet clashing ideas of what a friendship makes.
Despite being a space story, it was an entirely human story. The encouragement of working with other cultures, the encouragement of hopeful curiosity instead of violent fear, the encouragement to share and learn despite the differences that may arise. It’s an encouragement and a wish for humanity to do the same among our own people, and it shows that it might bring life in a new light, might save more than just the person who is sacrificing themselves for the betterment of the world. It might bring unexpected boons. It might make lifetime friends who really respect and care about you.
And man, by the way, the stark difference between Grace on Earth and Grace on Erid. “Can I think about it?” Oof. It must have felt so good to hear. To be able to go back to teaching. To be able to move at his own speed and have someone at his back, ready and willing to do anything for him out of respect and love.
It was such a good movie, man. I recommend this to Remy.
(should I add that to my things? an official “I recommend this to Remy/I don’t recommend this to Remy/outside of what Remy would be interested in anyway” symbol lmao)
(and yeah Remy I would call this safe for the kids to watch if they could sit that long, they would love Rocky)
