Film Review – Approaching the Unknown

Thanks to last autumn’s “The Martian,” which ruled the box office and became a critical darling, the Red Planet is all the rage again. “Approaching the Unknown” is a very different film than the Ridley Scott blockbuster, but the movies share an interest in verisimilitude, trying to return the science into science fiction. While “The Martian” was big entertainment with a sense of humor to go along with its nail-biting sequences of survival, “Approaching the Unknown” takes a more introspective route, remaining inside the lead character’s head for 90 minutes as he contemplates life and death, facing discovery and failure. Writer/director Mark Elijah Rosenberg has the right idea with the feature, but there’s almost no attention to pace. The helmer forces the audience to drift through space with a determined but distant astronaut, making the effort something to acknowledge but rarely enjoy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com