''Approaching the Unknown'' is a 2016 American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film written and directed by Mark Elijah Rosenberg in his feature debut. It stars

Mark Strong Mark Strong (born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia; 5 August 1963), is a British actor, best known for his film roles such as Prince Septimus in ''Stardust'' (2007), Archibald in '' RocknRolla'' (2008), Lord Henry Blackwood in ''Sherlock Holmes'' (20 ...

in the lead role of Captain William Stanaforth, the first person on a lone mission to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

. Luke Wilson and

Sanaa Lathan Sanaa McCoy Lathan (born September 19, 1971) is an American actress. She is the daughter of actress Eleanor McCoy and film director Stan Lathan. Her career began after she appeared in the shows ''In the House'', '' Family Matters'', ''NYPD Blue ...

are also featured in supporting roles. It was released on June 3, 2016 by

Vertical Entertainment Vertical Entertainment is an American film distribution and production company founded by producers Richard B. "Rich" Goldberg and Mitch Budin in 2012. History In 2012, Rich Goldberg & Mitch Budin founded Vertical Entertainment, a film distribut ...

theatrically in the United States and later by

Paramount Home Media Distribution Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainm ...

on home media and video on demand.

Plot

Captain William Stanaforth (Strong) is on a one-way solo mission to Mars, taking humanity’s first steps towards colonizing it. Although the entire world is watching him, he is completely alone on the space ship. After liftoff and the subsequent rocket separations, Stanaforth takes his suit off to relax and is set on course to Mars for 270 days by the team on the ground. Through flashbacks we see how Stanaforth had come up with the idea to create water () by supercompressing sand/dirt and combining the separate hydrogen and oxygen byproducts. It is by this synthesis that the mission is made possible. Stanaforth's water generation apparatus malfunctions during his mission to Mars. Rather than return to Earth as protocol requires, he takes manual control of his spacecraft and continues to Mars. His spacecraft becomes entangled with a nebula and through voiceover we hear Stanaforth ruminate on the nature of matter and space. Stanaforth says, "This is why I came here. To give everything up. For one moment of pure wonder." Stanaforth is then seen in his spacesuit, exiting the spacecraft. Without explanation, the scene cuts to Stanaforth, clean-shaven in his spacecraft, preparing to land on Mars. Stanaforth lands on, then walks, on Mars. As he walks, we hear Stanaforth say, "Nothing has ever lived here. Nothing has even died here. Maybe I'll live forever."

Cast

as Captain William D. Stanaforth, the astronaut venturing to Mars. * Luke Wilson as Louis Skinner (Skinny) *

as Captain Emily Maddox * Charles Baker as Captain Frank Worsely * Anders Danielsen Lie as Greenstreet

Release

In April 2016,

acquired U. S. distribution rights to the film, while

acquired home media distribution and video on demand rights. The film was released on June 3, 2016.

Reception

The film has received mixed reviews from critics. It has a critic approval rating of 43% on the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

with an average rating of 5/10 based on 21 reviews. It also has a score of 53 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Despite its mixed reactions, Strong's performance was praised, with Ben Kenigsberg of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' saying: "If ''Approaching the Unknown'' isn't entirely satisfying, Mr. Strong reaches high with his portrayal of the unraveling of a man who believes survival is a matter of engineering."

References

External links

* * * * * {{AllMovie title, 658065 (rating 2.5/5) 2016 films 2010s science fiction drama films Films about astronauts American science fiction drama films Films set on spacecraft Hard science fiction films Mars in film Paramount Pictures films Vertical Entertainment films 2016 directorial debut films 2016 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films