After being attacked by something in space, an astronaut crash-lands back to Earth, but something else has come with her.
Science is optional; a good story isn’t. Let me start at the beginning. You may find it hard to believe, but I’m not an expert on how a government agency retrieves an astronaut who has crash-landed in the middle of the ocean after a prolonged communications blackout, with visible damage to both the shuttle and the helmet. But I am fairly certain the procedure does not involve sending an unprotected team to casually pry the hatch open.
That questionable decision sets the inciting incident in motion, and from there, the film shifts into a one-location horror where believability steadily erodes. The premise has potential, but the execution repeatedly asks the audience for leaps of faith that feel unnecessarily large.
What exactly is the issue? In a supposedly high-security government facility (no spoilers), once lockdown protocols activate, one would expect a rapid and overwhelming black-ops response. Instead… nothing. The containment logic feels porous at best, dramatically undermining the tension the film is trying to build.
The deeper problem is the film’s relationship with its own science. Science fiction does not require perfect realism, but it does require internal credibility. Here, it often feels as though basic research was either minimal or ignored. Advisors and consultants exist precisely to catch the kinds of details that otherwise become plot holes large enough to derail immersion – and several moments here unfortunately fall into that category.
Even character behaviour strains plausibility. The scientists’ unusually calm reactions to what should be profoundly disturbing developments weaken the escalating dread. A late revelation suggests some characters know more than they initially reveal, but by that point, the damage to narrative credibility has largely been done.
To the film’s credit, Kate Mara delivers the intended agonising performance, doing much of the heavy lifting. It’s just unfortunate that co-writer/director Jess Varley and the production team lean so heavily on contrivance rather than coherence. Also shame to see great actors such as Laurence Fishburne in such roles.
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