An uninteresting mix of Sunshine, Event Horizon, 2001 and 80’s sci-fi corporate behemoth (think Recall Corp from Total Recall or Omni Consumer Products from Robocop). It’s a “profound mystery in space to explore” idea, but it can’t decide or put enough effort into any of its theoretical slots (corporate fear, interacting with the mystery, personnel issues, psychological fracturing, ‘spooky action at a distance’, wide ranging ramifications, etc.), so it comes out as underbaked and bland.
I loved Claudia Black being given the starring role here, but she has to keep shifting between foci. Should she be tortured by her past or at odds with her coworkers or enveloped in the mystery or weary of her mission? The plot doesn’t allow her to dive into any of these, constantly pushing forward but obliterating any meaningful track on its barrelling forward. A quick example: there seems to be some “space madness” going on which leads to some deaths - there is no real investigation, no time of mourning, and very little time or effort devoted to any of it, opting to just charge ahead - leaving the whole incident absolutely meaningless. This was a microcosm of the story on the whole; never leaving enough time or space to focus, which leaves all the actions inconsequential and all drama hollow.
It doesn’t look bad and there was a solid platform to blast from, but this cinematic rocket barely broke orbit. This was a spaceship without fuel destined for an unknown black orb of obscurity.
