Released: 5th February 2021 (Netflix)
Length: 136 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Director: Jo Sung-hee
Starring: Song Joong-ki, Kim Tae-ri, Jin Seon-kyu, Yoo Hae-jin, Park Ye-rin and Richard Armitage
Science fiction comes in many shapes and sizes; its efforts to immerse audiences in a future setting often know no bounds. Space Sweepers, a South Korean take on the genre, settles in alongside the better entries in its setting.
In the closing years of the 2000s, Earth has become nearly uninhabitable and the most well off in society are migrating to a new artificial utopia in orbit. Against this scene, the downtrodden clean up space junk to scrape out a living. We follow the crew of the Victory as they stumble across Kang Kot-nim (Park Ye-rin), who is looking to find her way home. The young girl is some kind of super weapon and as the rag-tag spacers try to figure out what to do with her, they become their own closely knit family unit. This is where the film works well; despite all the zany action and fast-paced dialogue, it doesn’t forget to have a heart. The bond between the characters grows stronger as the film goes on, resulting in action that engages beyond basic eye candy. If there’s one gap in the story, it’s that much of the antics the crew gets up to, most notably cleaning up space junk, ends up playing second fiddle over time. The film could have incorporated the industrial element a little more to create a better balance.
Despite being a Korean production, Space Sweepers features a large cast comprising many languages and backgrounds all mashed together in its future world. Much like the story, it’s able to keep its focus on the main characters and thus direct the audience sympathy towards them. What makes the crew of the Victory so memorable is their camaraderie juxtaposed against their inner problems. Kim Tae-ho (Song Joong-ki) desperately searches for his lost daughter, Captain Jang (Kim Tae-ri) has a history with piracy and Tiger Park (Jin Seon-kyu) has a thing for drugs. As each of their backstories comes to light, we learn that despite their past misdeeds they still have the chance to redeem themselves. The innocence of Kang Kot-nim unites them towards a common goal, something you will be invested in. On the other hand however, the villains are incredibly weak. They’re led by a very shallow and generic oligarch named James Sullivan (Richard Armitage), who barely interacts with the main characters through much of the runtime.
At many points, Space Sweepers looks visually spectacular; its higher budget has clearly translated into some dazzling backdrops. Whether it’s orbital space stations or an overcrowded ghetto inhabited by the downtrodden the film is always delivering a variety of sights to enhance its narrative. The blend of industrial factories and lavish utopian landscapes makes for a detailed landscape. This is backed up by a set of mostly strong digital effects that provides great detail on all the vehicles and their inner workings. There is one blemish however and that’s the occasionally wonky frame rate on the exterior sequences. You’ll see some slow-down in some celestial backdrops, particularly during fast-moving action sequences and these stick out among the film’s more rousing set pieces. Much of the camerawork is very fast-moving, but it never becomes too hectic or incomprehensible. To round off the package the music generates both serene and exciting moments, complementing the entire production.
Despite releasing in an incredibly crowded genre, Space Sweepers stands a surprisingly solid release. It successfully blends a fast-moving story with likeable characters and places them in a dazzling backdrop. The villain is rather lacklustre and sometimes the special effects have some gaps, but otherwise this is a highly enjoyable sci-fi production.
Rating: 4/5 Stars (Great)
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