- SLINGSHOT
- Starring: Casey Affleck, Tomer Capone and Laurence Fishburne
- Directed by: Mikael Håfström
- Rated: R
- Running time: 1 hr 49 mins
- Bleecker Street
Space. Cold and quiet. On board the spaceship Odyssey 1, John (Affleck) opens his eyes. He is greeted by a soothing voice telling him that he has been asleep for nine months and a day. He is also told that the drug given to induce his deep sleep has some possible side effects. Boy, do they!
A beautifully shot film with a top-notch cast, “Slingshot” tells the story of the first manned mission to Titan, one of the moons of Saturn. The objective is to gather an ample supply of the hydrogen that makes Titan the only place in the universe (that we know of) besides Earth that has clouds, rain and rivers. It is hoped the mission will gather the hydrogen to bring back to Earth to help with the planet’s climate issues.
As the lengthy journey progresses (it’s an almost three year mission, which isn’t bad when you learn in would take almost thirty-one thousand years to walk it) John periodically goes back into his sleep chamber. He constantly dreams of his past before the mission – a past of overachieving at every chance to be picked for the Oddysey 1 mission, as well as of his girlfriend, Zoe (Emily Beecham), who was also a psrt of the project. John is accompanied by another crewman, Nash (Capone) and their mission leader, Captain Franks (Fishburne). However, as the mission stretches out over the months, things go from good to bad, then from bad to worse, as the mental strain of the journey begin to affect the mission.
The film, whose title derives from the maneuver that is needed to make the trip a success (the idea is to use the gravity of Jupiter to “slingshot” around the planet and make it to Titan), is very similar to both 1972’s “Solaris” and 2013’s “Gravity.” Like those films, the performances are outstanding. Affleck has a knack of letting the audience see the emotions he is feeling effortlessly. Capone, whose Nash wants nothing better then to abort the mission and go home, also has some fine moments. And Mr. Fishburne is…well, he’s Laurence Fishburne! ‘Nuff said.
As the story progresses the audience is almost as confused as those on board the Odyssey 1, not knowing what is real and what isn’t. The film is well paced and the visual effects both well done and effective.
On a scale of zero to five I give “Slingshot” ★★★★