Review by Brad Balfour
Voyagers
Director: Neil Berger
Cast: Colin Farrell, Lily-Rose Depp, Tye Sheridan, Fionn Whitehead, Chante Adams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Viveik Kalra, Archie Madekwe, Quintessa Swindell, Madison Hu
Colin Farrell is one of those actors who can play tough/bad, sensitive/good and just weird with equal measures of skill and insight. In the sci-fi thriller Voyagers, he plays Richard, an astronaut/scientist who is shepherding a troupe of young adults in a spaceship heading to a planet so far away that it will take 86 years for these ark-dwellers to land where clean air and cooler temperatures prevail.
He operates in a very Christ-like manner, ministering to his flock. With crew member Christopher (Tye Sheridan), he steps out into space to repair a mysteriously damaged hull; an electric shock fries him. He’s killed in what appears to be a mysterious accident and that sets the kids adrift.
Bred for intelligence and obedience, this group of young men and women have been raised under very artificial conditions. They are kept docile and restrained through a combination of Biblical-like rules and a blue drink they consume with their meals.
When Christopher and Zac (Fionn Whitehead) decide to stop taking it, their primal emotions shift to the fore; Chris reveals a charismatic side while Zac’s more base urges emerge. Both compete for the attentions of Sela (Lily-Rose Depp) who, at first, couldn’t be bothered but as she is weaned off the drink, her sexual desire is aroused. As things descend into chaos through Zac’s machinations, the future of humanity is threatened.
As directed by the very capable and slickly manipulative Neil Berger (Limitless, The Illusionist), the film hits all the right points at all the right moments to highlight the drama and emotion but it doesn’t always seem convincing. It’s as if he knows what we should feel and when we should feel it, but that doesn’t seem quite right.
The movie plays to our progressive political inclinations and though all sympathies lie in that direction, one feels a bit uncertain at going along with those feelings. Maybe, if the film had had an R rather than a PG-13 rating, it could have shown the cast being really bad which would have added to the impact of this is something they really need to straighten out. All was done so smoothly that the urgency seemed a bit forced.
Nonetheless, the film does makes its point; with the survival of humankind at stake, one hopes that all excess primal urges are quelled and they finally make it to salvation.