The Space Between Us: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
Sixteen-year-old Gardner Elliot (Asa Butterfield) is the first human born on Mars, living his whole life with a team of scientists on the red planet. He’s always longed to see Earth to find the father he’s never known and to meet a beautiful street smart girl named Tulsa (Britt Robertson) he’s encountered friends with online. But when his chance finally comes, doctors discover his heart can’t withstand the Earth’s atmosphere. Eager to find his father, Gardner and Tulsa escape on a cross-country race against time to unravel the mysteries of how he came to be and where he belongs in the universe.
One word to describe this film would be “cute”. It takes a a very sci-fi approach with the start of the plot and creates this really cute and emotional story about the need to connect with someone. That’s something that I think everyone can identify with which makes it very relateable to a certain extent. I think the best thing about the film is that teens will be able enjoy it easily without too much technical jargon going on that might otherwise cause them to become uninterested. There were some story elements towards the third act of the film that, even though this is a work or fiction, didn’t cause me to suspend disbelief and took me out of the film a bit. Besides that I thought there were some great performances from Oldman, Butterfield, Gugino and Robertson in the film. I felt like Gary Oldman definitely stood out and gave the film a bit more credibility even though the story was pretty strong. Butterfield and Robertson were great as well but lacked just a small amount of chemistry that would’ve made their scenes feel a bit more intimate but their on screen relationship did seem close. Carla Gugino‘s role as the surrogate mother figure wasn’t too big but it did tie a lot of emotional moments together and to me that was essential for the film. This is definitely a film that everybody can enjoy and not feel overwhelmed with the sci-fi-ness (totally made that word up) of it. This is a must watch for sure. 7/10
Special Features:
Deleted Scenes – A handful of scenes here that are decent to check out if you’d like but nothing that really explores more of the narrative.
Alternate Ending – Basically the same as the theatrical ending just a longer version of Oldman talking.
Love Featurette – This feature takes a look at the overall theme of the film as well as its characters.
Feature Commentary With Director Peter Chelsom
