This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Long Shot
Plot Overview
The fictional
science of PHM is the
fantasy of an Alex Shakar short story:
“New York City,” he said, is the brightest thing in the whole world. “It's so bright you can see it all the way from the moon. It's brighter than anything in the whole entire solar system. 'Xcept for the Sun.”
“'Xcept for the Sun,” Padro echoed.
“The Sun is gigantic ball of nuclear fire, as big as a million Earths. It radiates heat and light so we can live and see. So when the scientists wanted to light New York at night, they sent my father to get a piece of the Sun.”
Over the tops of the tallest buildings, red lights winked hypnotically, warding planes away.
“And he went there, and he got a piece. And every night, my father drives it around underneath the city, and wherever my father goes the buildings above him soak up heat and light and power to make things run. Without my dad, the city would be dark and blind, and the city's sun would melt down, and you, and me, and Morder-bitch, and everybody in Brooklyn and Manhattan and the whole city would get cold and sick and blind and get hair falling out and six fingers and toes and die.” (73–4)
The Big
Apple has got a worm in it producing brown spots and likely a
spoiled fruit thirty years hence. Three brave
astronauts—a molecular biologist, an engineer, and a
pilot—have volunteered for a one-way trip to exoplanet Tau-Ceti-E,
11.9 light years away, to fish for a predator to eat
that worm, and then send back their findings in probes.
A launch pad accident kills the
molecular biologist. They need to find a replacement before their
launch window closes, so they settle on a brilliant school teacher
Dr Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) who
declines the call for being unqualified. “I put the
‘not’ in astronaut!” he tells them. He awakes
from an induced coma at his star destination to find the other two
crew members expired and his memory a blank.
The ship can
mostly fly itself. He rendezvous with a larger ship on a similar
mission from the distant planet Erit and befriends its lone, alien
occupant Rocky (James Ortiz) who's a consummate metallurgist.
So if they put their heads together, they are back in business.
Ideology
The companionship of the two is an apt illustration of (Eccl. 4:9-12) “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Their “good reward for their labour” is saving their planets through joint effort.
“For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow.” Rocky rescues Ryland when his spacewalk goes south on him, and Ryland saves Rocky from a hull breach.
“But woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.” The other two NASA astronauts were isolated in their suspended animation pods when their life support failed and there was nobody conscious to intervene.
“Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?” Ryland teaches Rocky to hug. More power to them.
“And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” The mutating protozoa eat away their metallic Xenon containers, which Ryland's able to patch, but Rocky's whole ship is made of the stuff. The two of them together can fix it, and then it's secure for the journey home with payload.
Production Values
“” (2026) was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Its screenplay was written by Drew Goddard based on the 2021 novel by Andy Weir. It stars Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller and James Ortiz. Gosling's good as expected and has most of the screen presence.
MPA rated it PG–13 for some thematic material and suggestive allusions. It is genuine sci-fi as it's meant to be. Zero gravity effects are realistic. The music track adds to the ambiance, and the humor works throughout. The alien is original and sympathetic, though out there in space the human is as much an alien as the other. Runtime is 2 hours 36 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
The plot includes micro-evolution of fast reproducing microbes mutating in a radiation field. Such has been documented and is well known and not controversial. Macro-evolution where one species is transformed into another is a different matter. Some scientists take it as a matter of faith. This movie doesn't rely on it or even address it. The science in it is advanced but believable.
The editing works well with the use of flashbacks to recover the star's memory. This one can be memorable.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Amazing special effects. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: A few suspenseful moments. Overall movie rating: Five stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quotation from the Authorized King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Print, software.
Shakar, Alex. “Waxman's Sun.” From, City of Love. Copyright © by Alex Shakar. Normal, IL: FC2, First edition 1996. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org