‘Stowaway’ has an interesting idea, but it cheats in the end

Posted on June 11, 2021

By MARK VIOLA

Before COVID-19, I went to the movie theater nearly every weekend, seeing between 80 and 100 movies a year.

That has obviously not been possible since the onset of COVID, and while things are slowly getting back to normal, the shutdown did show me just how many new films are debuting on streaming services each week. As such, if there are no new movies in theaters striking my fancy, I do feel as compelled as I once did to make the trip to a movie theater.

That’s what happened last weekend, and while none of the new streaming options piqued my interest either, I did take the time to catch up on a film released a month ago that I missed — Netflix’s “Stowaway.”

The sci-fi drama tells of an astronaut crew lifting off for a two-year roundtrip mission to Mars, although they leave Earth with some unexpected cargo — a stowaway.

While this is a well-directed and produced film boasting strong performances from everyone in its relatively small cast of just four actors, I ended the movie thinking I should have liked it more than I actually did. Giving it some thought, I believe my issues comes down to the script, which delivers an interesting concept that presents both its characters and the audience with some complex moral quandaries. However, I couldn’t help but feel like the story “cheated” a bit, forcing the characters to make some dumb decisions sole

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