Spaceman

Someone once said that no one can hear you scream in space, and after watching Adam Sandler’s new film Spaceman, I think I know why. It seems it is very cold in space, well cold and lonely to be exact, especially when you embark on a one-man mission to explore something in the stars. This situation sets up a one-man show, and to be honest, Sandler has every ability to pull it off. The question then becomes, can we survive this mission?

Out in the cosmos, just beyond Jupiter, there lies a purple cloud that has been in Earth’s skies for some time now. We are explorers, so of course, we send someone out there to get samples and to help figure out just what it is. The man that is sent up is Jakub Prochazka (Adam Sandler), who has taken this mission in order to make a dream come true. Jakub leaves behind his wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan), who is also pregnant with Jakub’s baby, and who is also starting to feel lonely from the time alone and away from her husband. Jakub and Lenka have a direct connection, but Lenka has stopped responding, causing Jakub to start to panic a little. It is at this time Jakub meets a creature that has somehow gotten aboard his ship. At first, he denies its existence, but the denial doesn’t work, since it seems to be really there. The creature has the ability to help ignite and then have Jakub relive these memories that deal with both his childhood and his relationship with Lenka. Jakub starts to welcome this creature and even gives him a name, calling him Hanus (Paul Dano). Together they head for the mystery cloud in the stars, as Hanus helps Jakub find himself and find what he thought he lost with Lenka.

Written by Colby Day, from the book by Jarosiav Kalfar, Spaceman never reaches the stars that it aims so high to reach, instead launching us into a therapy session given to us by an alien. Luckily for us, we are not kept in this session entirely, as we often are sent back to earth to see this relationship from Lenka’s perspective as well. Those moments, though short, are the only thing that will feel short in this movie. Spaceman can feel like it is moving at a snail’s pace and the ultra-moodiness only adds to you wanting to book your therapy session when it is over.

Spaceman is not a complete lost-in-space endeavor, as there are some good things in here. Sandler is doing his best, aka: not phoning it in, as he really does a job in capturing the aching loneliness of his character. The scenes with him and Dano deliver some real moments, but even those moments don’t reach their full potential. The constantly rotating camera is a nice touch, and director Johan Renck really gives the effect that you are floating in zero gravity. This mission is not about saving humanity, but one man, and while Sandler is compelling, Spaceman might just end up being the cure for your insomnia.