STORYLINE: An astronaut struggles to maintain his grip on reality aboard a possibly fatally compromised mission to Saturn’s moon, Titan.  (IMDb) 

     I loved it when the alien was brought aboard the Nostromo.  I really loved it when Richard Dreyfuss had his close encounter. When the aliens landed in District 9 and arrived in Arrival I was a fan.  

    What I like more though then alien based science fiction movies are the ones where mankind are front and center of a journey. Andrei Tarkovsky‘s 1972 Solars, the masterful film Interstellar from Christopher Nolan, the intriguing Ex Machina (2014) and even Moon (2009) with Sam Rockwell all jump to the top of that list.  Of course I can leave Gattaca (1997) off that list, a movie I often sight as my personal favorite.  (Side question is anyone surprised to read that a 007 title is not listed as having that top spot? Ok back to the blog already in progress).

   Naturally, after seeing the trailer for the Lawrence Fishburne/Casey Affleck science fiction thriller Slingshot I got excited to see another movie on this fashion.  I added to my list and purchased my ticket ahead of time through fandango. I hate fandango. I find when it comes time to pick up the psychical ticket, something I have been collecting for over two decades, it is troublesome. Plus when I buy straight from the theater I get the rewards points for free tickets.  With reserved seating though I have my favorite seat and like reserving it ahead of time. 

    The film itself is one I throughly enjoyed. It is the kind of science fiction film, is at its core about humanity.  Slingshot focuses on the psychological breakdown of the crew as they travel through deep space.  The relationship between the three person crew as the breakdown happened is what I found interesting.

    I do wish the the movie ended about forty five seconds earlier. Without spoilers, because spoilers about the exact ending are not my style so I keep things general, would have been an open ending. That would have been much better for this movie. 

   Adding to the tension of the film was the way the film was shot. Included often were shots from security cameras, some glitchy.  Mixing in visual shots of the loneliness of deep space to aid in the isolation created an atmosphere of paranoia.  In a story of mental breakdown the atmosphere of paranoia was essential to the story. Mission accomplished.

   While I enjoy space aliens, the force, and boldly going where no man has gone before I prefer my science fiction films, such as Slingshot, to be more about the struggles of humanity. 

    Until next time I will see you at the movies!