The Space Between Us ~ Movie Review

Last weekend, my brother and I went to see The Space Between Us. All of the trailers I had seen (well, the ones that had aired on television XD) looked really good, and I thought the entire concept was fascinating!

***WARNING: There will be some spoilers below, so if you want to have a 100% spoiler-free review, skip down to the very, very last paragraph***

With that said, on to the review!

Like I said earlier, I thought the concept was quite interesting – I had never even thought about that before, and so it was interesting to think about the real logistics of someone who had been born on Mars: how would it effect their growth? Organs? Social interaction? What would their life be like?

The main character, Gardner Elliot, brought up all these questions…because he was surprise! born on Mars. Yep. How’s that for a unique birth?

Flash-forward sixteen years. Gardner has been raised by scientists on Mars, and therefore is pretty much a science genius (I have a feeling Tony/Bruce/Peter and him would all get along amazingly). His only contact with Earth, is a girl named Tulsa. They communicate once a day, and all she knows (regarding why they haven’t met), is that he has a disease that causes him to be unable to leave his home.

His “mother” (not biological, since she died in childbirth), Kendra, realizes that it’s time to bring Gardner back to Earth. Even if he doesn’t survive, she has come to the rightful conclusion that it is not fair to keep him from Earth any longer.

And so begins the process of procedures and physical therapy to prepare Gardner for Earth. During this, he tells Tulsa that they have found a cure for his “disease” which will allow him to finally leave his “home” and meet her. He also mentions that there will be some travel involved. Space travel. Aka…seven months with no communication with her.

Thus, when Gardner finally found Tulsa at her school, and he was all ‘hey Tulsa! It’s me! Gardner.’ Tulsa was pretty much like…

First impressions, right? XD

Anyway, quick note here, when Gardner came to Earth, they ran a ton of tests on him, and he realized that if something was not exactly right, or as it should be, they were going to send him back to Mars. Naturally, Gardner did not want to go back, and having the brilliant mind that he does, he managed to cause a pressure distraction and escaped the facility.

Cue all his caretakers and the other scientists/astronauts freaking out.

Nathaniel Shepherd, the man who had started this, is going off to find Gardner along with Kendra. They are determined to locate him, no matter what.

Meanwhile, Gardner and Tulsa are hanging out, when SURPRISE! Nathaniel and Kendra show up in a helicopter.

Gardner is not about it. He starts running away from them, with Kendra chasing and Nathaniel jumping in the black SUV. They think they will have no problem catching him, but what they did not count on, was Tulsa picking up Gardner in one of those plane’s that farmers use.

And off they go, leaving Nathaniel and Kendra behind. Through the rest of the movie, the two teens go on a cross-country road trip trying to locate Gardner’s father, who he found with a picture of his mother on a hard drive.

There are so many cute moments, and a very Peeta-Katniss vibe between Gardner and Tulsa. She has this tough outer shell and does not open up easily to other people, because of how many times she’s been hurt. He, on the other hand, lacks any normal social skills and has this naivety that is very innocent and sweet. Yet, there is a major problem…

His Heart.

Gardner’s heart, because he was born on Mars, is too big. It cannot handle Earth’s gravity or atmosphere.

Gardner is dying.

One of the scenes, reminded me of a cancer patient. When you know you are going to die anyway, and that there is nothing anyone can do for you, some people go one of two ways: a) try to do the treatments that doctors prescribe that will hopefully let them live longer, or b) forgo all such in the decision to live as much as they can, while they still have time.

And that’s what Gardner decides. So, he and Tulsa manage to sneak out of the hospital and high-tail it out of that town. They are back on the road-trip to find Gardner’s father.

I don’t want to spoil the HUGE twist-around, so I’ll skip that part 😉

Overall, I thought The Space Between Us was a great movie. It was centered around an interesting concept, and had both romance, sci-fi, and humor. There were some really cute scenes and funny moments! A great romance, sci-fi story.

So, have any of y’all seen The Space Between Us?  If so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments below! 🙂

~ Southern Dreamer