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02/15/2017 11:01 PMRated PG-13
The Space Between Us is a love-infused science fiction film from director Peter Chelsom (Serendipity and Hector and the Search for Happiness). Viewers follow a young man born on Mars as he first discovers planet Earth in person. The premise is good, but the follow-through is not. The film succeeds in some areas of sentimentality, but overall it feels more hokey than anything else.
Gardner Elliot (Asa Butterfield of Hugo and Ender’s Game) is as much of a mystery to the world as the world is a mystery to him. Born on the planet Mars to his astronaut mother, Gardner is now a 16 year-old young man who desperately wants to travel to Earth. When he gets the chance to do just that, the process takes months and it comes with unprecedented health risks for him. His body is not used to the Earth’s atmosphere and serious health risks are unknown, given that he is the first human born on Mars, but likely. He finds that the pros of the trip outweigh the cons, however, and he jumps at the chance, particularly eager to meet in person his one Earth-bound friend, Tulsa (Britt Robertson of Tomorrowland and The Longest Ride), a fellow teenager with whom Gardner has built a relationship via video chatting.
All the while that Gardner is out exploring Earth alongside Tulsa, he is being pursued by his surrogate mother, Kendra (Carla Gugino of San Andreas and Sin City), and the head of the private space program that first put his mother up on Mars, Nathaniel Shepherd (Gary Oldman of The Dark Knight and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy). Their main concerns include keeping Gardner’s identity a secret (his birth on Mars was never revealed to the public) and keeping a vigilant eye on his health (his body is unused to the Earth’s atmospheric pressure and he is suffering). Despite being unaccustomed to anyone or anything on Earth, Gardner manages to sneak away from and out-wile the adults chasing him who have every available resource at their command.
In addition to having had a desperate need to connect with Tulsa, for whom he had fallen long before he ever met her in person, Gardner is also on Earth on a mission to locate his father. Left feeling vulnerable and lonely all of his life after his mother died during childbirth, he has only a photograph to help him achieve his task of finding his father, but Tulsa and Gardner prove to be quite cunning. They are able to piece together clue after clue from seemingly nothing. These clues lead them from Tulsa’s home in Colorado, to Las Vegas, through the desert, and eventually to the shores of California.
The most enjoyable parts of the film come when Gardner first arrives on Earth and is able to explore it on his own. It is delightful to see him interact with all of the new people he meets when his own experiences have been limited to living alongside just a handful of scientists on Mars and watching old movies. He dances in the rain, looks in awe at hot air balloons, and walks directly into the Pacific Ocean fully clothed just to feel it against his skin. Butterfield shines as the wide-eyed teen living his dream.
Beyond Butterfield’s performance and the inherent beauty that naturally occurs when anyone is trying to discover himself and overcome odds in a film, The Space Between Us offers little else to viewers. The plot is drawn out too thin for too long, the surprises aren’t particularly surprising, and the overall feeling that viewers are left with is of over-the-top drippy sentimentality, as well as a need to stretch their legs.
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