Feral Children With Guns in Space!

Voyagers (2021) – Earth is dying, but a possible alternative planet is found. It will take a multi-generational ship to get the colony started. When several members of the crew discover drugs in their food to keep them docile, problems ensue. But internal challenges may not be their only problem.

Directed by Neil Burger

Starring Colin Farrell, Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp, Fionn Whitehead

Why I Liked It (?) – It’s “Lord of the Flies” in space.

I’ve never liked “Lord of the Flies” which is why I gave it the question mark above. The movie is all about young people without adult supervision going insane when left to their own devices. In and of itself, that gives the movie some suspense and creepiness. Which it needs because the basic premise behind the mission at the center of the story is idiotic.

As described at the top, the compelling action is the environment of Earth rapidly becoming a death sentence for human beings. Humanity looks to the sky, looking for an escape and discovers one! Yay! It requires almost a century of travel, so the original crew won’t live to see the new world. Project Leader Richard (Farrell) comes up with the brilliant idea of creating a crew from scratch. Using artificial fertilization and wombs, they create a group of humans whose only purpose is to grow up, pilot the ship towards the new world, and provide the next generation of voyagers. That group would then create the generation that colonizes the new planetary home for humanity.

Clever, right?

Not if you’ve ever worked with kids/teenagers, no.

Here are just the highlights of the problems I saw instantly:

• It begins with the usual idiotic concept that if you cross-breed really smart people/Nobel Prize winners, you’ll get the best folks to colonize an unknown planet.
• The children are raised in isolation. They have no intellectual or emotional connection to the planet they’re supposed to be saving.
• They are raised away from almost all other humans. Richard meets with them, but only in an isolation suit.
• They have no role models for how to behave in human groups or between individuals. Just the training needed to be parents!
• They are given a lifestyle on the ship that involves work, sleep, eating, and educational time. Nothing relaxing or fun. They live in a sterile environment with no personalization or personal life.
• While being drugged to reduce their sex drives, the program that runs their lives informs them at age 24 baby-making is to begin.

I could go on, but it’s too frustrating. Once they discover the drug in their food, they stop taking it. Now in their late teens/early 20s, with no basis for how humans get along with one another and their hormones unleashed suddenly in a rush, bad things happen.

The upside is that once you put all that setup stuff behind you, the movie isn’t bad. The bad people chase the good people, the good people fight back. There’s not a lot that comes as a surprise story-wise, but it’s nicely done and the actors do a creditable job. I was much happier at the end of the movie than at the beginning.

You can stream “Voyagers” on the Roku Channel, Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube. I streamed it on the Fawesome streaming service with commercial breaks.

Rating – *** Worth A Look