The Space Between Us – Blu-ray Movie Review

This is the story of a young man who was born on Mars and lived there until he was sixteen. While on Mars, he engaged in an online friendship with a female Earthling of about the same age. Since his actual existince was shielded from the public eye, he was not able to directly explain their aloof relationship. He convinces the head of the Mars exploration to allow him to come to Earth where he gets to meet his online lover and experience the planet first hand in a way that is all very fresh, new and fascinating.

I had not heard of this movie before requesting it for review. I was very pleasantly surprised at how delightful a story it was. The story is strong, the special effects are well done and the characters are well developed. The movie is hampered by some dramatic overacting by one Gary Oldman who plays the head of the exploration team. Oldman redeems himself in the final act with a touching finale, but the early over-acting blemishes his performance. The other principal actors turn in excellent performances throughout – Asa Butterfield as Gardner, the Matian; Carla Gugino, as his surrogate mother and Britt Robertson who plays Tulsa, Gardner’s love interest. I recommend this to anybody who enjoys science fiction movies with a dramatic flair.

This movie was shot in digital. It is not visually restrained by any dynamic limitations. There are many very bright scenes in the Martian domicile that are not blown out. But then things may switch quickly to a dark, murky scene that demonstrates excellent shadow detail. Speaking of detail, there is plenty of that on this disc. I deducted half a star because there was a bit of inherent noise in the picture at various times.

The audio is above reproach. The surround immersion sounded spot on in every scene. Also, there are a few rocket launches and other massive effects that come across naturally with authority and a great, balanced bass foundation. I could not find one single nit to pick in relation to the audio and found it to be so very good that I was quite surprised to be perfectly honest.

This is a two-disc set with the Blu-ray, a DVD and a Digital HD code included. The extra features are interesting and quite well done if not sparse in number – Alternate Ending, five Deleted Scenes, “Love Featurette” and Audio Commentary with director Peter Chelsom.