Space Sweepers (Seungriho): Movie Review

For a Netflix release, "Space Sweepers" definitely fixed our cravings for a big-budget, blockbuster film experience. This handily exceeded our expectations not only in terms of its production and the spectacle it gave us but also the well-rounded narrative and characters littered throughout the film.

It's 2092 and Earth has become an almost uninhabitable place. But all is not lost as humans have found a way to live in space. Unfortunately, most humans have been left on Earth as only a select few, handpicked by a company called the UTS, are able to live in habitable space stations above the Earth. UTS, with its founder and CEO James Sullivan (Richard Armitage), is planning to take the next evolution by transforming Mars into an inhabitable planet. But a rogue terrorist group who calls themselves the Black Fox are trying to thwart his plans - believing Sullivan is sabotaging Earth's revival in favor of Mars. The latest planned attack utilizes an adorable and young robot Dorothy (Park Ye-rin) who has a hydrogen bomb inside her. When the crew of the Spaceship Victory composed of Tae Ho (Song Joong-ki), Captain Jang (Kim Tae-ri), Uncle Tiger (Jin Seon-kyi), and a robot named Bubs (Yoo Hae-jin) stumbles upon Dorothy by accident, they plan to sell her off to whoever is willing to pay the most. In their quest for money, they might actually have the chance to find out the truth and to save Earth and its billions of inhabitants in the process.

If there's one thing we sorely missed due to the pandemic, it would be experiencing epic movies on the big screen. That feeling that transports viewers away from their regular lives and the illusion of being somewhere else may it be in the past or in the future. "Space Sweepers" delivers as a fix to that very longing and there's no denying that it was astounding and outstanding as a sci-fi experience overall. The biggest surprise for us was its production. The visuals and visual effects could go toe-to-toe with any high-budget Hollywood film out there and it gave us a feeling of watching a film like "Rogue One" without coming off as a complete rip-off. The story and the narrative beats within the film were nothing new but the unique twists and turns littered throughout its runtime made it a lot more interesting than it should have been. We especially loved how well-developed the main protagonists were and we truly cared for each character in a very deep level. Additionally, the film was able to be intimate and emotional in particular moments that caught us off guard. Unfortunately, we couldn't say the same for its main antagonist. We wished the film developed the antagonist's back story more and at the end of the day, it felt like the character was used as a vehicle to have that big climactic fight near the end. Some may say that the film needed more depth and substance when it came to its purpose but for us, as a thrilling space saga, "Space Sweepers" delivers.

Rating: 4 and a half reels

Why you should watch it:
- this fulfilled our need for a big-budget, space, epic blockbuster fix
- well-rounded and jam-packed narrative and characters

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- we wished they spent time developing the back story of its main antagonist
- the story lacked depth and substance