“Moonshot,” a new sci-fi romantic comedy starring Cole Sprouse and Lana Condor, was recently released on HBO Max. The title is somewhat misleading, as the two lead characters spend most of the film’s runtime actually heading to Mars.
As the misnomer of a title would suggest, the film is a jumbled mess, cluttered with messages clamoring over each other to get resolved. Unfortunately, “Moonshot” ends up saying too little about too much.
At first, the premise of the film seems simple: two college students in the year 2049 (played by Sprouse and Condor) sneak on board a space shuttle to the red planet. But the filmmakers couldn’t stop there.
Mixed in with tropes from both the sci-fi and rom-com genres are commentaries on no less than pollution, environmentalism, colonialism, class and the dubious tax status of billionaires. All that, some decently impressive visual effects and America’s sweetheart, Zach Braff as a thinly veiled analog of Elon Musk, in an hour and 45 minutes.
Even in the near future of 2049, a mediocre white guy can stalk not one, but two different women, pass it off as romantic and get away with it. If the society in this movie creates a colony on Mars, it should’ve moved past that outdated, and frankly harmful, trope.
“Moonshot” tries its hardest to portray Sprouse’s character Walt as a painfully average dreamer, yet the film requires his former Disney Channel and current CW heartthrob star power to carry the story on his T-shirt-and-jumpsuit-clad shoulders.
Condor doesn’t fare much better. She’s given the played-out role of an uptight, career-driven woman that has to be persuaded by the idealistic man into going on an adventure, having fun and celebrating her own birthday.
With the burgeoning industry of space tourism, the commentary on class seemed the most out of place. The same people making movies are the same people with a massive amount of disposable income to spend on such trips.
“Moonshot” will appeal to all the youngsters out there seeing it for their favorite actors, who emphasize certain lines to imply a certain depth, as if specifically for clips and GIFs for social media fan pages.
If you’re over the age of fourteen, however, don’t expect much.
