On the heels of this past spring’s I.S.S., the summer season brings us another lower-budget, space-bound indie thriller, Slingshot, starring Casey Affleck in what’s basically a two-set, three-hander about a trio (allegedly) of astronauts who may or may not be succumbing to space madness. Director Mikael Håfström tries to frame the whole thing as a more intimate, psychological mystery, but it rather ends up being mostly dull, save for a ridiculous (and unspoilable) third act twist.
We first meet Affleck’s John (no rank or last name) as he awakens from suspended hibernation aboard Odyssey 1, currently en route to Titan by way of a titular slingshot maneuver around Jupiter. Immediately, the female AI computer voice informs him that the drugs used to cause his hibernation “may cause dizziness, nausea, confusion,” etc. and so forth. Strangely, this is not occasioned by an ominous music cue, which is too bad because without it audiences may not remember that this information may become important later. John is joined by Captain Franks (Laurence Fishburne) and Nash (Tomer Capone), and the narrative proceeds to unfold over multiple trips back and forth from hypersleep as tensions continue to rise, personalities fray, and stability slowly unravels. The three astronauts slowly but surely start to turn on each other.
Meanwhile, John has numerous flashbacks to his burgeoning relationship back on Earth with Zoe (Emily Beecham), whom he either regrets leaving or regrets being too emotionally remote to care about leaving; it’s never quite clear. Most of Affleck’s performance — keeping in mind he’s never been exactly known for overplaying things — is almost literally somnambulant, barely rising above the plane of moping or being drowsy. Fishburne at least gets to hang loose, even starts waving a gun around at one point, so at least offers a bit of fun. But there’s only so much one can do with two sets and three actors dropped into this sort of monotonous setup, and given that there are only a couple of directions available for the narrative — Is John crazy?; Are the other guys crazy?’; or Is this even real anyway? — most of your time as a viewer will be spent waiting for that final shoe to drop. This is especially disappointing given that Håfström actually executed a remarkably similar premise quite decently in his Stephen King adaptation 1408, but there’s just nothing nearly as hallucinatory, spooky, claustrophobic, or white-knuckling about Slingshot. Instead, by the end it begins to feel closer to hibernation.
DIRECTOR: Mikael Håfström; CAST: Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, Emily Beecham, Tomer Capon; DISTRIBUTOR: Bleecker Street; IN THEATERS: August 30; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 49 min.
