Throughout the history of mankind, we have always looked up into the sky and searched for godhood, destiny, and good luck in the unknown. In 1957 during the Cold War era, the Soviet Union might have been the first country to enter space but much has happened since then regarding astronomy and space exploration. This could be why billionaires such as Jeff Bezos are trying to buy their way into space with their riches. A crew of five people is expected to make the first all-civilian spaceflight by paying $55 million each for a seat.
That might be why HBO Max released its latest movie Moonshot. It features Lana Condor from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before series and Cole Sprouse of Riverdale who play two young adults that fall in love with each other and find solace in one another’s arms. Twist is there though: they left Earth which is considered as a dumpsite today and now want to go to Mars to meet their beloveds. Other key cast members include Mason Gooding, Emily Rudd, Zach Braff and Michelle Buteau among others.
In an era where Don’t Look Up has had a love-hate relationship with audiences as well as critics alike, Moonshot on HBO Max has been released. Although Moonshot does not present a doomsday scenario, sometimes it feels like it draws some inspiration from another recent major streaming release called Bigbug; it however combines romantic comedy elements with occasional science fiction hints instead. However at no point does Moonshot try to reinvent either genre; rather it blends both genres together creating something that can give you an occasional chuckle.
The year is 2049, and assistant barista Walt (Cole Sprouse) has big dreams of going to Mars. By this time in the film’s timeline human beings have already landed on mars and colonized it. However Walt appears strange or off-kilter around everyone else including his robot coworker who suggests he should just look for a game or something. It’s why he ends up breaking the law and sneaking on board a spaceship headed to Mars, in his quest to become an astronaut.
However, things get complicated when Walt’s frenemy Sophie (Lana Condor) discovers him on the ship. The two meet at a party at Sophie’s house, and as Walt enters her room she is in a video call with her boyfriend. In anger, she tells him to go away but while doing this, he accidentally steps on something that was given to her by her boyfriend thus destroying it and making her more upset than ever before. Afterwards she shows up crying at his job which further sours their already soured relationship when she gets angry again leading Sophie into buying a ticket for Mars out of spite.
Later on, Walt takes up the idea of sneaking his way to Mars by hiding in a spaceship after being inspired by a cat that sneaked into another spaceship. Meanwhile, Sophie is a Ph.D. student who intends to go to Mars just to see her boyfriend of eight years hence she bought the ticket. Although Walt spent only one day with his girlfriend which can make it seem like their relationship was not plausible in novels, he kept this fact secret from Sophie. They are both attempting to reach their love interests who are working and living on another planet and that could have been an area of connection if they did not fall into the enemies lovers trope of romantic comedies.
Walt and Sophie are thrown into forced cohabitation for many months; thus their scenes generally carry some underlying romantic and sexual tension. None of that chemistry comes out between them amidst all their fighting and bickering at each other. It comes off as contrived because at times, it seems they are different people who are just too stubborn when they have a lot in common: fighting for love’s sake. With its Romantic Spacewalks as well as Engagement Dance Parties, there is enough space for this story to navigate through uncharted territory but it doesn’t happen here. Instead, what we see is an overcautious approach which goes out of its way to insult Walter constantly without making clear whether this counts as comedy or discrimination.
The manner in which life on the red planet unfolds is very different from how our main characters had expected it earlier in Moonshot videos. The ship seemed comfortable and safe with neon lights that calmed things down with muted colors but then came the movie’s twist which deconstructs everything before that point. It feels like watching a play rehearsal when everyone except for the lead actors knows they’re acting. The twist of the movie comes during landing on Mars revealing what was at stake throughout.
Backstories about any character only arise when it serves a purpose. For instance, Sophie reveals in tears that her parents died when she was fourteen years old thus she is very attached to the families of her boyfriend (Mason Gooding). The only character whose story matters is Walter’s but at the same time, this is used against him throughout by those who consider him inferior. It’s even as if his robot boss looks down on him, thereby reinforcing this type of social class boundary in that film’s world.
If there are any lessons that can be learnt from Moonshot and one of them is certainly never to meet your heroes face to face especially in real life because you will be disappointed. More so if they are glorified billionaires. Nevertheless, hidden deep within its plot are some really profound statements about our present society irrespective of whichever planet or country we may belong to today. The movie features various philosophical debates and questions from environmental discrimination to tones of classism.
He has applied thirty-seven times, but every single time Walt was overlooked and he cannot pay close to a million dollars for a commercial ticket. Nevertheless, Sophie reveals she is not an ordinary grad student and she has two million dollars available. In contrast, Walt shares a small room with his roommate while Sophie lives in an immensely big and grand house with what seems to be a trust fund baby. And then it stings even more when Sophie admonishes Walt: “Don’t act like our situations are remotely the same,” then says your normal.
On the other hand, there are billionaires who send students to Mars as they send their trash back to Earth making it look more of like Wall-E by Walt Disney. Sadly, this is true story. This makes Mars appear as a rich men’s sanctuary because of it portrays Earth as “a garbage-filled place” that Walt wants to escape from particularly since he is portrayed as someone who does multiple jobs and lives under huge student debts; this therefore builds up Mars into an upper class utopia. However, only those who live in that wealth bubble benefit from this haven; thus people like Walt have to work which therefore brings him out of his dream that Mars is such beautiful place.
And maybe this is also meditating on the American Dream but underpinned with rom-com exaggerations? The characters do not change anything else about themselves except for relationships among them while they fail to grow as human beings. On one hand the wealthy continue playing along game between Earth and Mars over many years whereas entitled students get opportunity to belong in such clubs on another planet. It turns out that Sophie’s dream is how she can make a plant eat all of the waste on earth; something which may give hope for the future of the planet but not during this runtime.
The idea behind Moonshot was just too interesting especially when you consider that Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse seem perfect for these roles. But, Moonshot doesn’t quite hit the spot when it comes to execution.
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