Voyagers (film)

Voyagers
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Neil Burger
Written by	Neil Burger
Produced by	Basil Iwanyk Neil Burger Brendon Boyea
Starring	Tye Sheridan Lily-Rose Depp Fionn Whitehead Colin Farrell Chanté Adams Isaac Hempstead Wright Viveik Kalra Archie Madekwe Quintessa Swindell
Cinematography	Enrique Chediak
Edited by	Naomi Geraghty
Music by	Trevor Gureckis
Production companies	AGC Studios Thunder Road Films Nota Bene Films Fibonacci Films Freecss Films Limited Ingenious Media
Distributed by	Lionsgate
Release date	April 9, 2021 (2021-04-09) (United States)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$29 million
Box office	$3.9 million

Voyagers is a 2021 American science fiction film written and directed by Neil Burger. The film stars Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp, Fionn Whitehead, Colin Farrell, Chanté Adams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Viveik Kalra, Archie Renaux, Archie Madekwe and Quintessa Swindell, and follows a group of young astronauts on a multi-generational mission who descend into paranoia after making a discovery.

The film was theatrically released on April 9, 2021, by Lionsgate, and received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

In the near future, the earth will heat up more and more, so that droughts and famine will plague humanity. In 2063 science finds a planet suitable for colonization, whose colonization should ensure the existence of mankind. The crew of the colonization spaceship Humanitas is intended to reproduce during the 86 year long journey so that their grandchildren finally will reach the target planet. For this purpose, 30 ARTs are bred from the genome of intelligent people. They grow up to be children in complete isolation so that they will not miss the earth during their lonely mission. For their later tasks on board the spaceship, they are trained by the scientist Richard, who finally decides to accompany the children on the flight with no return, in order to protect them from the dangers of the journey.

Ten years after the start of Humanitas, the children have grown into teenagers. Everyone has special tasks on board, which are monitored by Richard and which everyone does routinely and docilely. One day the botanist Christopher accidentally discovers that the blue drink everyone takes after meals contains an unknown substance. He hacks into the computer and learns that the substance is a drug that keeps their personality dull and docile, and suppresses their sex drive. Christopher and his best friend Zac decide to stop taking the drink and experience emotions and desire for the first time. During a routine conversation with Richard, Christopher reveals that he has detected a secret chamber in the board plans. Richard explains that this is reserved for the third generation on board. He informs mission control on Earth that the children are beginning to lose trust in him and that he wants to tell them the truth about everything, but the answer will take over two months (about 71 days) because of the distance. This implies that the ship is now 1/10 of one light year (36 light days) away from Earth.

Zac approaches the ship's doctor, Sela, and touches her shoulder then her face and then aggressively grabs her breasts but Richard prevents him from touching her. When Zac watches Richard put his hand on Sela's shoulder, this arouses jealousy in him. A short time later Richard dies, for an initially unknown reason, during maintenance of a communications unit that he was carrying out with Christopher. His face and upper body are covered with burn wounds. Shortly before, eerie noises could be heard on the ship's hull again, which had always caused concern in the group, but which Richard had explained as harmless temperature fluctuations in the metal. Now some are of the opinion that it is an extraterrestrial life form that also caused Richard's death. As fire broke out after the incident, the surveillance records were destroyed, so the matter remains unsolved for the time being.

Zac offers to take over the leadership of the group from now on, but in a secret ballot Christopher is chosen as the new first officer. He orders that the damage caused by the fire be repaired first. Zac's jealousy is awakened again when he realizes that Christopher and Sela have grown closer. He reveals to the others that the blue drink contains a drug and instigates them to refuse to take it. The previously orderly life on board increasingly falls into chaos. Feasting orgies, acting out sexuality and wrangling are the order of the day. Christopher's authority wanes, and finally Zac usurps power. He claims that the alien life form that killed Richard is hiding in the archive room. When he and Kai are examining the archive, they are apparently attacked and flee, with further archive data being destroyed. The group is in fear – only Christopher, Sela, Anda, Alex and Phoebe suspect that there is no alien and that Zac just wanted to destroy more evidence. They find a data store with footage from the monitoring center that shows how Zac killed Richard by an electrical surge while he was outside, and then stirred up the fear of the alleged alien for his purposes in order to secure the group's allegiance. Sela cautions the group not to mention this to anyone until they all decide. Christopher accompanies Sela to her chambers where she safely stows away the data storage. Christopher wants to leave Sela alone but she cajoles him to stay and the two have passionate sex.

Christopher shows the footage of Zac's betrayal to the group. The others are shocked and seem to turn away from Zac. He then reveals that his goal was just to protect the group, since the alien had taken possession of Richard and now apparently had jumped over to another. He manages to direct the group's hatred towards Peter, who has been noticed in the past for his aggressiveness. Out of control, Zac's followers chase Peter across the ship and eventually beat him to death.

Christopher tries to open the secret chamber, suspecting weapons are there, but Zac's group succeeds first. Now armed, they chase the five "renegades" through the ship. Anda and Alex overrun and Phoebe is killed by Kai. Christopher and Sela try to kill Zac, but they have to flee. They are attacked by Kai, but they fight and kill him. Pursued by Zac shooting around unhindered, they hide in the airlock, put on space suits and open the outer bulkhead. When Zac shoots open the inner door, the pressurization and Christopher's and Sela's help throw him into space.

After Zac's death, Sela and Christopher get the group to put their weapons down. Sela is appointed as the new first officer. From now on, the group wants to renounce the inhibiting drug and vote on decisions together. Sela is shown pregnant and gives birth to a boy. Jumps in time show the aging of the crew members and the growing up of a new generation of children. Finally, 86 years after launch, the descendants reach the target planet.

Cast

• Tye Sheridan as Christopher Rebbs
• Lily-Rose Depp as Sela
• Fionn Whitehead as Zac
• Colin Farrell as Richard Alling
• Chanté Adams as Phoebe
• Isaac Hempstead Wright as Edward
• Viveik Kalra as Peter
• Archie Madekwe as Kai
• Quintessa Swindell as Julie
• Archie Renaux as Alex
• Madison Hu as Anda
• Wern Lee as Tayo

Production

The project was announced in January 2019 with Neil Burger writing and directing. The film was described as being "Lord of the Flies in space". In April 2019, Colin Farrell, Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp and Fionn Whitehead were amongst those cast in the film, with filming due to begin in Romania in June. In June 2019, Viveik Kalra, Quintessa Swindell, Archie Madekwe and Archie Renaux joined the cast of the film, with Lionsgate distributing.

Principal photography began in Romania in June 2019.

Release

It was originally scheduled to be released on November 25, 2020. However, it was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was rescheduled to be released on April 9, 2021.

Reception

Box office

The film made $500,000 from 1,972 theaters on its first day and $1.4 million over its opening weekend, finish fifth at the box office. The film dropped 43.5% to $779,317 in its second weekend, finishing sixth.

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 26% of 110 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "It has a game cast and a premise ripe with potential, but Voyagers drifts in familiar orbit rather than fully exploring its intriguing themes." Metacritic assigned a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 53% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 27% saying they would definitely recommend it.

External links

• Voyagers at IMDb