Stowaway has a major malfunction—yet still works.
That’s because, when you watch people blast off into space, you get invested. It’s only natural, rooting for the home team.
What’s more, we can identify with each of the three crewmembers on a personal level. Whether by ambition, altruism, or curiosity, their reasons for going to Mars ring true.
The issue—which is also what makes most of the movie suspenseful and nerve-racking—is that there’s a stowaway on this rocket ship. Yes. In something engineered down to the smallest detail, an entire human somehow managed to squish in.
So what to do?
Well first, push the ridiculousness of this scenario out of your mind. Then, soak in how human ingenuity and emotion can blaze through the dark vacuum of space. The ship wasn’t built to handle four people, and things aren’t looking good, but we are seeing one of life’s most pressing questions being worked through in real time: We didn’t ask to be here, but now that we are, who will help themselves, and who will help each other?