Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Tomer Capone, Casey Affleck, Emily Beecham | Written by R. Scott Adams, Nathan Parker | Directed by Mikael Håfström

A mission critical to the survival of mankind runs into problems somewhere in the outer reaches of the solar system. That and the loneliness of space travel are two of science fiction’s core themes, and Slingshot is the most recent film to bring them to the screen. Too often, though, Hollywood’s attempts fail to do either idea justice. Dare we hope that this time they’ve gotten it right?

Somewhere between Earth and Jupiter, the crew of Odyssey One is awakened from hibernation for some checks of the ship’s equipment and their mental state. Captain Franks and Nash seem fine. But we can tell that John isn’t doing so well. In particular, he seems obsessed with the memory of Zoe and the fact she hasn’t...