A group of astronauts living in the haunting emptiness of deep space awake to find earth has suffered an extinction level event.

Space. Silence. Smoking Astronauts. 3022 certainly hits all of the traditional Sci-Fi Thriller marks. Beautiful warm otherworldly lighting contrasts deliciously with the stark, clinical background of a space station. In the same way, the darkness and light of humanity contrast against each other in the same way, as this attempted slow burn plays out.

A crew of 4 are sent into deep space on a ten year mission. Captain John Laine (Omar Epps) helms the Pangea, a refuelling ship. On the Pangea with him are Jackie (Kate Walsh), Dr. Valin (Angus McFadyen), and Lisa (Miranda Cosgrove). Don’t get too attached here- this becomes a “last man standing” film sooner than expected, in a way that juxtaposes the slow and under-written plot of the rest of the film.

Things are cheerful on Pangea – Laine and Jackie develop a romantic relationship, Dr Valin has a fatherly love for Lisa, there is tons of smoking and drinking and goofing off (I suppose 10 years in space gives you loads of time to develop some new addictions and joke around) but it’s clear as we stumble through our cloyingly “fun” montage of the first five years of the mission that the mental toll of being 4 people alone in space is stacking up. Just as things build to a head in terms of crew relations, something goes terribly wrong on Earth. How will our crew handle being the only humans left alive? Are they truly alone, or are there other missions lost in space? How long can the crew survive in the vacuum of deep space? 

This film has all the makings of something fun and unique, but falls short of making strong enough choices to truly cement it in the lexicon of sci-fi thrillers. Epps and Walsh both under-act their roles, and struggle from a shocking lack of connection and humanity. Walsh is a watered down space babe, and while Jackie is written to be an accomplished and intelligent space traveller, at no point in Walsh’s performance was I convinced of her ability. Epps gives a very one note performance, even stooping to the trickery of developing a facial tick to drive home the idea of him slowly crumbling under the weight of space travel. Angus McFadyen gives a solid attempt at a quiet, still performance, but leaves much to be desired in terms of stand out moments or any real emotion, and both he and Cosgrove are vastly underutilized. The cast, like the rest of the film, suffers from not knowing exactly what it is, or what message it’s trying to convey. 

While the set design and art direction are lovely, they once again provide little variation from what we’ve come to expect from a sci-fi thriller. The cold, reprimanding voice of the command computer brings the viewer back to conversations with “Mother” in Alien, and backdrop of pipes and smoke behind nearly every scene becomes tiresome much more quickly than one would hope. It seems that the art department accomplished exactly what they set out to do, it’s just something we have seen before. Absolutely solid craftsmanship, but the viewer still aches for something more, new, or different.

Among the more successful aspects of 3022 is the score, by Jimmy LaValle. Sci Fi Thrillers can often fall into the trap of overwrought scores that dictate the story to you, and force feed you your emotions. LaValle’s score instead provides an intimate yet isolated soundtrack that serves the story rather than forcing it. LaValle’s resume mainly consists of TV and documentary work, but I for one am hopeful this foray into feature narratives is just the first of many.

I was lucky to have the immense luxury of watching this film at home on my couch, and even so, found myself easily distracted, pausing to get a snack or take a phone call, and flat out losing interest. Nothing so compelling is happening on screen to make this script fly, and while I applaud the simplicity of the concept, it stops short of diving into the aspects that give it any real depth. I had high hopes 3022 would shine a light on the mental toll of space travel- all work and no play, etc., but unfortunately, like our protagonists, I was left in the cold of deep space, alone.