''Stowaway'' is a 2021
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 unive ...
thriller 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 been ...
film directed by
Joe Penna
Jônatas "Joe" de Moura Penna (born May 29, 1987) is a Brazilian musician and filmmaker best known from both his YouTube channel MysteryGuitarMan and his feature films. He resides in Los Angeles, California.
YouTube
Penna maintains the YouTub ...
, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ryan Morrison. The film stars
Anna Kendrick
Anna Cooke Kendrick (born August 9, 1985) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including a Satellite Award, five Teen Choice Awards, three MTV Movie Awards, and nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award a ...
,
Daniel Dae Kim
Daniel Dae Kim (born Kim Dae-hyun ( ko, 김대현); August 4, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jin-Soo Kwon in ''Lost'', Chin Ho Kelly in ''Hawaii Five-0'', Gavin Park in ''Angel'', and Johnny Gat in the ''Saints Row'' ...
,
Shamier Anderson
Shamier Anderson (born May 6, 1991) is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing U.S. Deputy Marshal Xavier Dolls on the television series ''Wynonna Earp (TV series), Wynonna Earp'' and ''Invasion (2021 TV series), Invasion.''
Background
Ander ...
, and
Toni Collette
Toni Collette Galafassi (born Toni Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, producer, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television and independent films, she has received various accolades throughout her career, includ ...
. A co-production of the United States and Germany, it premiered on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
in select countries on April 22, 2021.
Plot
The crew of MTS-42, a two-year 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 (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
, consists of Mission Commander Marina Barnett, biologist David Kim, and medical researcher Zoe Levenson. After taking off from Earth, the
upper stage
A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is ...
of their launch vehicle is connected by 450 meter long
tethers to the ship's main hull, acting as a counterweight for
inertia
Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law ...
-based
artificial gravity
Artificial gravity is the creation of an inertial force that mimics the effects of a gravitational force, usually by rotation.
Artificial gravity, or rotational gravity, is thus the appearance of a centrifugal force in a rotating frame of r ...
.
Shortly after takeoff, Barnett discovers launch support engineer Michael Adams, an accidental
stowaway
A stowaway or clandestine traveller is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as a ship, an aircraft, a train, cargo truck or bus.
Sometimes, the purpose is to get from one place to another without paying for transportation. In other cas ...
, unconscious between two modules, entangled with a device that scrubs
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...
from the air on the ship. As he falls, the device is inadvertently destroyed.
The crew is forced to use emergency
lithium hydroxide
Lithium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula LiOH. It can exist as anhydrous or hydrated, and both forms are white hygroscopic solids. They are soluble in water and slightly soluble in ethanol. Both are available commercially. While ...
canisters to scrub from the air. Unfortunately, the canisters cannot sustain the extra load. Barnett orders David to immediately cultivate his algae experiment on the ship, rather than at the
Martian colony, as planned. Only half of the algae survive, providing just enough oxygen for a third crew member. Without another oxygen supply, the crew of four will
asphyxia
Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...
te weeks before reaching Mars.
Barnett asks
mission control for a solution that will save all four passengers, but the only option—an untested
EVA
Eva or EVA may refer to:
* Eva (name), a feminine given name
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
* Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment
* Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in t ...
(spacewalk) to climb the tethers and recover
liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...
from the spent upper stage rocket—is deemed too risky. Barnett and David begin to come to terms with sacrificing Michael, but Zoe convinces them to wait ten days for mission control to think of another solution.
After three days, David breaks rank to explain the situation to Michael, offering him a painless lethal injection. Michael nearly takes his own life, but Zoe stops him and convinces him to hold out for a while longer. She insists on climbing the tethers to retrieve the liquid oxygen. David reveals that the rest of the algae has died, leaving only enough oxygen for two. Now facing the death of two passengers, he agrees to join her on the climb.
Zoe and David perform the EVA and
jury rig
In maritime transport terms, and most commonly in sailing, jury-rigged is an adjective, a noun, and a verb. It can describe the actions of temporary makeshift running repairs made with only the tools and materials on board; and the subsequent r ...
a solution to fill two cylinders, which is enough to sustain two more passengers. Deadly radiation from a
high-energy solar flare—
coronal mass ejection
A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a significant release of plasma and accompanying magnetic field from the Sun's corona into the heliosphere. CMEs are often associated with solar flares and other forms of solar activity, but a broadly accepted ...
—forces them to leave one of the cylinders behind. They make it back to the ship, but due to a
critical equipment failure, the single oxygen cylinder is lost.
After regrouping, they realize that the large tank continues to leak oxygen due to the improvised connection, and that if one person exposes themselves to the lethal radiation to retrieve the cylinder left behind on the first attempt, the other three can survive. Marina must survive to pilot the ship, but the other three all volunteer to make the sacrifice.
As Michael is untrained and both he and David have families back home, Zoe ultimately insists on doing it herself. She manages to fill and return the cylinder to the ship before succumbing to
radiation poisoning. She spends her final moments outside the ship, gazing at a faint Mars amongst the stars.
Cast
*
Anna Kendrick
Anna Cooke Kendrick (born August 9, 1985) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including a Satellite Award, five Teen Choice Awards, three MTV Movie Awards, and nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award a ...
as Zoe Levenson, the ship's doctor
*
Toni Collette
Toni Collette Galafassi (born Toni Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, producer, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television and independent films, she has received various accolades throughout her career, includ ...
as Marina Barnett, the ship commander
*
Daniel Dae Kim
Daniel Dae Kim (born Kim Dae-hyun ( ko, 김대현); August 4, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jin-Soo Kwon in ''Lost'', Chin Ho Kelly in ''Hawaii Five-0'', Gavin Park in ''Angel'', and Johnny Gat in the ''Saints Row'' ...
as David Kim, the ship's biologist
*
Shamier Anderson
Shamier Anderson (born May 6, 1991) is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing U.S. Deputy Marshal Xavier Dolls on the television series ''Wynonna Earp (TV series), Wynonna Earp'' and ''Invasion (2021 TV series), Invasion.''
Background
Ander ...
as Michael Adams, a launch support engineer and the eponymous stowaway
Production
In October 2018, it was announced
Anna Kendrick
Anna Cooke Kendrick (born August 9, 1985) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including a Satellite Award, five Teen Choice Awards, three MTV Movie Awards, and nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award a ...
was cast to appear in
Joe Penna
Jônatas "Joe" de Moura Penna (born May 29, 1987) is a Brazilian musician and filmmaker best known from both his YouTube channel MysteryGuitarMan and his feature films. He resides in Los Angeles, California.
YouTube
Penna maintains the YouTub ...
's next film, starring as a medical researcher. In January 2019,
Toni Collette
Toni Collette Galafassi (born Toni Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, producer, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television and independent films, she has received various accolades throughout her career, includ ...
was added to the cast, in the role of the ship commander. In May,
Shamier Anderson
Shamier Anderson (born May 6, 1991) is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing U.S. Deputy Marshal Xavier Dolls on the television series ''Wynonna Earp (TV series), Wynonna Earp'' and ''Invasion (2021 TV series), Invasion.''
Background
Ander ...
was cast as the titular stowaway, and
Daniel Dae Kim
Daniel Dae Kim (born Kim Dae-hyun ( ko, 김대현); August 4, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jin-Soo Kwon in ''Lost'', Chin Ho Kelly in ''Hawaii Five-0'', Gavin Park in ''Angel'', and Johnny Gat in the ''Saints Row'' ...
joined as the ship's biologist.
Filming began on June 11, 2019, in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
and
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
and wrapped after 30 days.
YouTuber
A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006.
Influence
Influent ...
and science communicator
Scott Manley
Scott Park Manley (born 31 December 1972) is a Scottish YouTube personality, gamer, programmer, astrophysicist and DJ. On his YouTube channel, he makes videos discussing space-related topics and news, mainly concerning up-to-date rocket sci ...
was a consultant for the film.
Release
In November 2018,
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) is a specialty film division of Sony Pictures. The company specializes in acquiring and producing films for a wide variety of distribution platforms.
History
The group became a stand-alone division of ...
acquired international distribution rights to the film, excluding the United States. In December 2020,
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
acquired distribution rights to the film, acquiring territories previously purchased by Sony, with
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...
set to distribute in Canada. The film released on April 22, 2021,
except for German-speaking countries where the Netflix release will follow showings in cinemas which will happen at an indeterminate time due to the ongoing pandemic.
Reception
On
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 ...
website
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 ...
, ''Stowaway'' holds an approval rating of 76% based on 109 reviews, with an average rating of 6.50/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Pacing problems prevent ''Stowaway'' from fully engaging, but it's distinguished by its thoughtful, well-acted approach to a story built on an excruciating moral dilemma."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
assigned the film a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
See also
* "
Breaking Strain
"Breaking Strain", also known as "Thirty Seconds - Thirty Days", is a science fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1949. It was adapted into a movie in 1994 under the title ''Trapped in Space''.
Plot ...
", 1949
Arthur C. Clarke short story
* "
The Cold Equations
"The Cold Equations" is a science fiction short story by American writer Tom Godwin, first published in ''Astounding Magazine'' in August 1954. In 1970, the Science Fiction Writers of America selected it as one of the best science-fiction short s ...
", 1954
Tom Godwin
Tom Godwin (June 6, 1915 – August 31, 1980) was an American science fiction author active throughout the 1950s into the 1970s. In his career, Godwin published three novels and around thirty short stories. He is best known for his short sto ...
short story
References
External links
*
*
* {{Netflix title
2021 films
2021 thriller drama films
2021 science fiction films
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2020s science fiction thriller films
2020s survival films
2020s English-language films
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American space adventure films
American survival films
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Films about astronauts
Films set on spacecraft
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