I guess I'm one of the few that loved it?

I thought the first 80 minutes or so were great. The suspense is built up slowly and deliberately, with a pace I found engrossing. But I felt a little cheated by the ending. So they found a large, blue, bioluminescent octopus. Oh. Ok, I see.

i enjoyed it too. If it was 2 hours and 30 minutes I would be disagreeing but the (under) 1.5hr length was perfect too

I loved it too. One of the most intelligent movies about space exploration out there.

I loved this film so much and I couldn't agree more with the points you made about the absence of conflicts between crew mates, love triangles, or exaggerated personalities. I don't know how many times those have ruined a film for me completely.

I can't tell you how much I wish more films like this came along. Unfortunately most filmmakers cater to the masses, which doesn't say much when movies like Transformers have such a big impact at the box office...sad sad world.

I enjoyed it a lot. Thought provoking, well made and far better than some of the more exalted dross that I've seen lately.


Small moves Ellie, small movesi

This is definitely one of the best sci-fi movies that I've seen in a long time. The acting was top notch, as was the characterization, minimal but significant. The alternating timelines which while having been technically unnecessary, were no doubt added to mandate the viewer pay attention in order to reap maximum benefit. The HD video of Rosa speaking, shown intermittently in a manner that suggests she might have been the only one to have survived the mission was entirely done to keep the viewer off track, and to me, added a humbling twist towards the end when the truth is revealed.

Having gone through several threads on this board it can be observed that some people have unfairly resorted to nitpicking this movie, which while requiring its share of suspension of disbelief, was well within a reasonable limit as compared to a bulk of sci-fi movies that have been plaguing cinema recently.

To start with, some have mentioned that the entire concept of sending a manned mission to far off Moon is implausible, since it would be impractical to have done so without having first sent unmanned missions to probe the region and confirm the educated guesses concerning the possibility of life on Europa. This is a very valid point made in terms of absolute real world plausibility, but I champion that this point negates the existence of the entire movie in itself and isn't something that should really be torn apart much. For one, the fact that it is stated early on that the the project was entirely the brainchild of a private organisation was indicative of two things, that the cost of the mission was perhaps much lesser than a supposed government funded one would have been, and subsequently that the spacecraft itself would not necessarily be the best one to accomplish the task at hand, and secondly, that it IS possible that, as the CEO of the company suggests, with the alarming scientific evidence that they had, investing millions into first making unmanned probes was unnecessary, and that a manned mission would reap the most benefit with the least cost and most precise and circumstance driven examination of the alien landscape of the Moon. The writers could very easily have passed off the entire mission as one funded by NASA, could they have not? But the choice to choose a private company might have been fueled by the fact that the movie itself was a very low budget movie and this would provide the weaker design and settings a possible reason to exist within the created story?

Secondly, the next hurdle is encountered at the Hydrazine point when James dies. Dramatically the scene was very well done, all with the background score and acting. From a scientific standpoint, the actual emergency with a regard to the toxicity of the Hydrazine on James' suit has been argued and while it is clear that alternate plans of action could have been pursued, they weren't. Some people have taken to the event as it transpired, while others have not. I guess this comes down to each individual's openness in accepting this movie as the science fiction-thriller that it is.

Next, the decision of the crew to leave the orbiting space craft unmanned while technically unsound is understandable within the circumstances of the movie. James and the Andrei were supposed to stay aboard, but James having died and Andrei being too unhealthy both mentally and physically post the loss of James led them to decide that it is unnecessary to risk leaving him alone in charge of the spaceship. There astronauts didn't seem to have any qualms with regard to leaving the ship unmanned, suggesting that the ship itself could be managed and leaving it unmanned wouldn't in any way jeapordize the mission. I presume the movie is set a few years in the future, so we may believe that technology is advanced enough for this confidence in leaving the ship unmanned to be wellfounded.

As to Katya venturing out of the pod without a tether, I find it totally plausible since while the astronauts are unsure what lies out there, they do not as yet have any reason to suspect a physical threat to Katya. Further more, the distance from the investigation site and the pod is mentioned to be about 100 metres and any tether that might have existed would not have been able to extend that far, since the standard length of a tether is about 85 feet.
With regard to this scene, I'm unclear as to the intention of the astronauts. It is clearly told that the initial plan was to settle the pod at a point where the ice was thin and the heat signature was high; and we see that Katya ventures to this place at which point, in part due to the native life form of the moon, the ice breaks and she falls/is dragged in. I fail to understand how the pod, clearly much heavier than Katya, and arguably much bigger than the life form, would have been made to settle on that designated region of thin ice, since wouldn't it be more likely that the pod would infact sink, as it does in the movie when they later crash land at the site?

The revealing of the life form at the end, which I felt was not entirely required, was perhaps warranted for if its image had not been captured, the loss of the astronaut's wouldn't have accounted to as much and so its near complete revelation while giving away a little bit of the intrigue did more to gratify all of the characters and their actions in the movie.

All in all I thought the movie was brilliantly done, with perfect execution, some neat camera tricks, so much so that at times I forgot that it was a found footage movie. The acting by the able cast was above par, the background score was more reminiscent of a horror movie but definitely added to creating an engaging atmosphere. Unscientific detours have definitely been taken in order to make it as compatible with modern audiences without losing out on the overall concept and intention of the movie. Not perfect, but thrilling and engaging with sufficient regard to the science.

Really sorry for the long post, I didn't realize it would turn out to be this long. xD

I remember seeing the IMDb page for this movie which somewhat sparked my interest for whatever reason, perhaps because I was in a period of watching and enjoying space films. I saw it was on Netflix so I dove right in and immediately loved almost everything about it. The mostly unknown actors, grounded realism in its presentation and plot development, and especially that it's a movie driven more by science than Hollywood and its cookie cutter design. I can see it's not for a wide audience that likes mostly simple and in your face movies, but I thought it was spectacular and would love to see more movies like it.

I agree. I loved it also!

😎