Movie Review: Voyagers

It is unfortunate that comparisons to Starship Troopers (1997) will plague the new science fiction film Voyagers, as the two films are indelibly dissimilar. While Paul Verhoeven’s film was an intentionally over-the-top examination of the dystopian worldview that the novel’s author, Robert A. Heinlein, saw as the inevitable outcome of human evolution, Voyagers is more of a slow-burn think piece that attempts to re-envision Lord of the Flies by William Golding as a sort of teen-centric adventure story that manages to remain engaging and somewhat entertaining throughout.

It is 2063, and the Earth is in imminent peril. Life will soon be unsustainable on the planet. The solution that is devised to ensure the survival of the human race involves hurling a couple dozen specifically bred and trained children across the cosmos to colonize a planet similar to Earth. Accompanying the children on this journey is the scientist in charge of the mission, Richard (Colin Farrell). He functions as a surrogate father figure and watchful adult during their 86-year journey to the new world. Richard’s charges, now teenagers, have been genetically engineered for enhanced intelligence and treated to suppress certain emotional responses that could potentially damage the desired outcome of the mission.

Of course, as with any science fiction story concerned with the suppression of the self in favor of the survival of the body politic, once the aforementioned emotions are triggered, not only are the lives of everyone aboard the ship at risk, but the success of the overall mission is put in peril as well.

Vlad Ionut Popescu in “Voyagers.” Photo by Vlad Cioplea.

The main conflict of Voyagers follows Christopher (Tye Sheridan) and Zac (Fionn Whitehead) who combat each other for control of the group and the attention of Sela (Lily-Rose Depp) after they are all weaned off of the drug keeping their baser emotions in check. Of course, the inevitable introduction of lust, fear, and the need to have actual control of their lives causes the crew of adolescents to revert to their more animalistic impulses and this leads to a true fight for survival for them all.

Director Neil Burger, who previously directed The Upside (2017) and Limitless (2011), does a fine job of creating the proper mood aboard the ship carrying the children to make it all that much easier to understand why precautions were put in place to keep those aboard docile and under some form of control. It is also made obvious how that plan can (and does eventually) go horribly wrong when dealing with the emerging psyches and other issues associated with the simple emotions one feels when growing up and experiencing the effects of puberty.

As a moody meditation on the potential future of the human race, Voyagers may come off feeling like a drama chronicling troubled teens from any number of current television programs geared towards this age group. But, as a dramatic science fiction film that forces one to think about the potential future of the human race, along the lines of something like Silent Running (1972), the film is often quite effective and both dramatically and thematically rewarding.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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