The isolation of deep space. Astronauts on a mission for Earth’s survival. Members of a small crew losing their grip on reality and blurring the lines of what is real or imagined. Hallucinatory mind games from beyond the stars. Director Mikael Håfström’s Science Fiction thriller, Slingshot, boldly goes where many have gone before. While the picture has a good deal of merits, Håfström fails to bring anything new to the genre and after a great first hour, begins a slow reach for a dramatic profundity he cannot achieve. 

Self-described “loner” astronaut, John (the always good Casey Affleck) is chosen to be part of a three-man crew for a years-long space mission heading to Saturn’s moon, Titan. His fellow crewmen are Nash (Tomer Capone) and the head of the spacecraft, Captain Franks (Laurence Fishburne, an actor unable to give a bad performance). Each man takes their turns hypersleep, while the others keep watch over the ship, named Odyssey-1.

Nash begins to discover some issues while the other two men are in their slumber. He begins to fear their ship will not be able to make the titilar slingshot move; a tricky maneuver where their craft would use Jupiter’s gravitational pull in unison with the thrust rockets to shoot them straight to their destination. Nash fears the ship cannot survive and they will all die in space. Fishburne’s captain is of the belief that Nash is wrong about the danger and is becoming overly insubordinate. Franks argues that the mission comes first; leaning on John to be an ally, as Nash has become uncontrollable. 

Screenwriters R. Scott Adams and Nathan Parker present a great setup and give the story an interesting and suspenseful pull. Their design of Affleck’s character as a quiet man who has lived his years mostly on his own gives weight to the drama to come once John’s mind begins to fail him. John has physical and mental issues every time he comes out of hypersleep. Nausea, disorientation, and eventually, hallucinations begin to plague his every waking moment, as our unreliable guide is set. He is consumed by thoughts of Zoe (Emily Beecham), his colleague and lover, whom he regrets leaving. For a time, it is just memories while in his sleep pod, but those moments morph into visions of Zoe on the ship, her voice whispering to John from the quiet. 

Comparisons to both Tarkovsky’s 1972 Solyaris and Steven Soderbergh’s 2002 remake, Solaris, are inevitable, considering that section of the plot, but there are many other films that Slingshot mirrors. While it is true that the psychology of being isolated in outer space is always an interesting subject to mine, filmmakers such as Ridley Scott, Alfonso Cuarón, Claire Denis, Danny Boyle, and of course, Stanley Kubrick have already crafted some of the best and most original films of this type. Håfström’s film is also plagued by the unfortunate setback of releasing only 5 months after Johan Renck’s superior Spaceman.

This is not to say that there isn’t room for more stories of this ilk and for a time, Håfström crafts something quite interesting. The script goes deep inside John’s paranoia and finds palpable suspense in the fact that his visions could be of his own doing or something otherworldly. The director skillfully uses the small set (“Chef’s kiss” to Production Designer Barry Chusid) to enhance the claustrophobia, as Pär M. Ekberg’s camera pans through the tight, quiet, corridors; the cinematography finding a dichotomy between the remoteness of space and the tethered soul we find with those we love. 

It is in the final 40-or-so minutes where both script and filmmaker lose their tight hold on the story and flail around too often, guiding the audience to an unnecessary twist ending that betrays the good graces of what came before. There is an overuse of sleight of hand in telling this already familiar tale. The essence of the drama between John and Zoe’s relationship (shown in fragmented flashbacks) and John’s relationship to his own sanity are shoved aside in favor of a Shyamalan-styled finale. What was once psychologically engaging becomes just another cinematic shell game.

Slingshot is a film that fails its mission. A strong first half sets the tone for something deeper, but the screenplay lets it down in an attempt to thrill rather than engage the audience in something more complex. A quite involving Sci-Fi exploration of isolation and connection becomes a journey that, ultimately, serves no purpose. 

Slingshot

Written by R. Scott Adams & Nathan Parker

Directed by Mikael Håfström

Starring Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, Tomer Capone, Emily Beecham, David Morrissey

R, 109 Minutes, Bleeker Street, AstralCinema, Bluestone Entertainment