Voyagers

The classic novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is not only a beloved classic but has been assigned reading for generations of students since it was first published in 1954. The book has been adapted into plays and films over the years and remains a chilling and poignant cautionary tale.

In the new movie “Voyagers” audiences are introduced to an Earth that has been ravaged by climate change and disease. In an effort to save the species; a grand experiment to genetically create a group of children who are the origins of a colonization effort is undertaken.

The planet is 86 years away so the decision is made that the children will be raised and trained indoors without any exposure to nature, open skies, fresh air, and other aspects they will be deprived of on the ship.

Richard (Colin Farrell) decides to accompany the children on the mission as he wants to protect them and ensure things go as planned so their progeny will be well suited to continue on the mission to the next generation who will ultimately be the ones who colonize the planet.

Ten years into the mission things are going well until a discovery is made that a drink the children take daily known as “The Blue” is a drug used to suppress their emotions and keep them docile and easy to control.

When friends Christopher (Tye Sheridan) and Zac (Fionn Whitehead); who learned the secret of the drug decide to stop taking it; they soon reveal the truth of their discovery to the rest of the children who in turn stop using the drug.

In no time rampant emotions, aggressions, desires, paranoia, and mistrust start to run wild and Zac becomes obsessed with Sela (Lilly-Rose Depp). His unwelcome advances soon become more and more aggressive which causes Christopher and Richard to intervene and tragedy soon follows.

Christopher and Zac soon find themselves at odds with one another and fear and paranoia lead the crew to form into factions and turn on one other which not only threatens the mission...

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When people ask me my favorite genre, I usually reply with the admittedly annoying and cliche "I enjoy every type of film". While this is ultimately true, I do tend to love sci-fi and a couple of other genres more than the rest. I find sci-fi to be one of the most creative filmmaking sources, partially due to the infinite potential of its storytelling. From extraterrestrial life to an exploration of deep space, our world knows so little of what's beyond our planet, which makes the respective genre a perfect framework for imaginative, unique fiction. Voyagers features an interesting cast, but Neil Burger was behind the disappointingly hollow Divergent saga, so I couldn't help but go in with very low expectations.

Even anticipating a tough watch, I never thought Voyagers would be a contender for one of the worst flicks of the year. The general premise is far from being groundbreaking, even with the not-that-original spin that it puts on the "colonization of another planet" concept. Still, it's considered a formula because it worked on several other occasions. It just doesn't in this movie. The group of young people bred separately from the outer world could have received an innovative, inventive arc but instead follows an incredibly generic, dull, lazy character development path. The chaos and mayhem triggered by a single person - who just so happens to embody literally everything that's wrong with our society - is as extremely forced as it is utterly ridiculous.

In fact, it even raises logical questions regarding the premise of the film. Obviously, people can be born into the same place with the same education, morals, and everything that comes with growing up and still develop a distinct personality. However, Burger doesn't demonstrate why some characters end up challenging the authority and questioning their purpose. Everything happens because it needs to happ...

It's always nice to watch some unpretentious and industrious Hollywood B-movie science fiction in a cinematic landscape dominated by franchise-obsessed, superhero-crazed tentpoles. Unfortunately, 'Voyagers' never transcends its derivative origins and basic thrills.

• Jake Watt

Read Jake's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-voyagers-an-overly-familiar-journey

A -HIGHLY- Intelligent & Thought 🌠 Provoking Movie , Stylistically & Visually -FANTASTIC- . . . But One That Is Somewhat " -DIVERGENT- " From Its MPAA Certified PG-13 Rating 🤷‍♂️ .

A "Good, Old Fashioned" -{ B I G }- Screen Mini Review .

Christopher : " Maybe this is our true nature " . Richard : " That's  a profound thought " .

I've -actually- come across -atleast- a 100 reviews on IMDb ( -a similar forum to this one- ) slamming 'Voyagers' for being, in essence : " -{ Not Much More }- than an ( outer space ) rip-off of a certain acclaimed author's novel -turned film- { "Lord of the Flies" ( 1954 ) }. Here is my response to that accusation , in earnest. -All- Directors , & -All- Artists , frankly... are -{ Constantly }- being " inspired " by prior artistic works, &  " borrow " from them far more often than we may 'readily' be prepared to admit. I would like to make it entirely clear that this most certainly -{ Not }- the same thing as 'ripping-off', 'plagiarizing', or 'stealing'. For the seemingly -endless- contrarians on IMDb that have ruthlessly, even viciously, accused this undeniably -{ Enthralling }- Space 🌌 thriller's super-talented Director Neil Burger, { known best for the critically rejected yet -popularly- "Colossal" 'Divergent' ( 2014 ) }, of doing just that : Kindly note the 'following' . " I'd be 'willing-to-bet' that if the bespoke 'literary late great', Author & Nobel Laureate William Golding, were somehow able to publicly opine on the matter from the great-beyond ; he would be rather -{ Unequivocal }- in lavishing praise on -{ This }- particular iteration.... { of that age-old " Darkness-Of-Man's-Heart ( etc. ) " theme } ....presented here as a grand scale "Cinematic Thought-Experiment" of sorts. The pointed, Unbridled critique of the frailty of human nature offered in the picture, along with its perf...

Easily one of the worst sci-fi movies out there.

Spoiler ahead: The premise is essentially that sex hormones turn people into monsters. Period. That's it. Testosterone turns you into an asshole that wants to sexually assault and murder people. It's really as bad a movie as it sounds.