Slingshot

Year of release : 2024

 

Run time : 1h48min

 

Genre : Sci Fi / Psychological Thriller

 

Cast : Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne

 

 

The crew of the space ship Odyssey, wakes up from a hibernation cycle, while on route to Titan,Saturn's moon. The mission is to travel to Titan to get large amounts of resources, such as methane,to use on earth.

Due to the years long journey, the crew of 3 must wake up and go back to sleep many times. They wake up every 90 days,that is 3 months, to perform routine checks and do maintenance,talk to the people on earth, and make sure they stay the course, before they go back to sleep.

 

When he wakes up, John worries about forgetting his girlfriend's (or is she?) last name, but his colleague, Nash, assures him it's Ok,as the drugs used to induce the sleep have serious side effects (like not knowing where they are,who they are,losing their memory, hallucinations),and his memory will come back to him.

 

He remembers her name, as he recounts how they met, and they go back to sleep.

The next time he wakes up, he hears Zoe's voice and following it, John is hit in the head by a panel which fell from the ceiling.

They worry the ship might have been hit by something, but everything seems normal.

Nash becomes very paranoid,and is trying to get John on his side, to return to earth.

 

When they wake up again, John takes the captain's side, as Nash wants to perform the slingshot they were supposed to, to jump towards Titan, to go back to earth.

This leads to friction between the crew, and John thinks he saw the captain k1lling John when he went back to sleep.

His hallucinations get worse, as he starts seeing Zoe on the ship. Soon, John doesn't know what's real or not,and doesn't know who to trust.

 

The movie is called Slingshot,because the crew must perform a 'slingshot' maneuver around Jupiter which will launch them towards Titan.

 

The movie reminded me of Solaris from the moment it started,and it did have that vibe, the empty space ship, the man seeing the woman he loves on board, the memories of her from when he was on earth,before the mission.

 

I personally didn't like the repetition, the waking up,for what it seemed like to be hours,to go back to a 9 months sleep. It honestly bored me,as it felt nothing eve happened.

I did like the scenes from earth, when we get to see more of John,know who he is,and what he's about (probably a man driven by his own demons ,and his own need to succeed,to the point he chooses his career over the woman he loves).

The movie was saved by the ending, which almost had a twist,and I thought they were subverting our expectations.

 

The visual effects were good.

 

The actors were good.

 

The soundtrack was beautiful,merging with every scene,creating this beautiful symbiosis.

 

Slingshot is on AppleTv+ for 7 days free, and for rent / sale on Amazon Prime, AppleTv .

 

Rating : Could have been a contender !