Slingshot features a near-future hibernation vessel crewed by three, being sent to the moon of Saturn, Titan, to investigate the biological and chemical suitability for Human settlement in our solar system. As with all such films, the film’s challenges lie with unexpected circumstances and the psychological responses of the crew who are tasked with such missions. The trailer unfortunately, does little to showcase why I (or you) should be interested in such fare, unless we’re hungry for near-Earth, near-future speculative fiction.

WHY SLINGSHOT MATTERS

Why is the creation of near-Earth, near-future, science fiction important? Because most of the popular genres of science fiction skip over this critical period of humanity exploration of our solar system because it isn’t sexy.

These stories are little more than humanity in a tiny vessel, riding in a metallic can into the ocean of space, similar to the Polynesians who travelled the Pacific Ocean in small craft with limited resources searching for new opportunities with no guarantees of success. The technology is more advanced but the threat and challenge is exactly the same, only the scale has changed.

There are no amazing drive technologies, there are no miraculous developments; there is only an incremental technological creep, battling against the dangers of interstellar space which often include: radiation, dangerous particulate matter moving at thousands of miles per second, the extreme passage of time, boredom and sometimes, space madness. These are real challenges to space exploration and the sooner we start talking about them, thinking about them and creating means to address these challenges, the sooner we start inspiring a generation of creative minds to attempt to resolve them. With the vast distances we have to travel in our solar system alone, the creation of an effective, safe and madness-free hibernation protocol might be the most important effort we can make toward space exploration.

WHY SLINGSHOT?

The film appears to be created by a foreign film company and has a retro-feel of the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the ship itself is part of the cast, featuring an artificial intelligence and a complex story using Jupiter’s gravity well to pick up speed and using a “slingshot maneuver” — a technique where a ship approaches a planet and plots a path which would allow the ship to increase its speed using the planet’s gravity but rather than land, their flight path would be redirected away from the planet leaving at an increased speed, toward Saturn. The name of this maneuver was popularized in the science fiction series, Star Trek, from the 1960s.

The danger of such a maneuver is likely to be being struck by particles near the flight path and challenging the ship’s integrity. This film appears to be staking part of its drama, not just on the physical challenges, but the mental stresses of being millions of miles from home, the immense isolation, lack of technical support, and possible side effects of the hibernation technology used to keep the staff asleep during their two year journey. None of these things are a surprise if you have watched these kinds of films in the past, thus the suspense lies in whether the writer’s emotional beats can convince you to be invested in the story.

DO I THINK IT WILL BE GOOD?

The film features award-winning actor, Laurence Fishburne as Captain Franks, Casey Affleck as John, the primary sufferer of space madness and Tomer Capone, (fans of the series, The Boys, will recognize him as Frenchie) as the voice of reason in what appears to be a doomed mission to Titan. Since this is the first trailer, they have given us only enough to be intrigued, but given the limited nature of these kinds of films, there must be other stories, including family drama, corner cutting in the spaceship design, or other such shenanigans to make this film worth our time. Perhaps the next trailer will reveal things we have not been privy to yet.

This film has the merit of not being a sequel, prequel or any other pre-digested entertainment so I will give it the opportunity to impress me while not thinking of other films or series which may have given us the near-future, near-Earth exploration vibe and managed to earn my admiration, like say, The Expanse or For All Mankind, which are highly recommended by this reviewer.

SLINGSHOT (2024)

Genre: Near Earth, interplanetary space travel

Produced by Astral Pictures and Distributed by Bleeker Street
Directed by: Mikael Håfström

Story by: R. Scott Adams
Screenplay by: Nathan Parker

Starring: Tomer Capone as Nash, Casey Affleck as John and Laurence Fishburne as Captain Franks.

Release Date: August 30, 2024