Mr. Movie: ‘Voyagers’ is a predictable voyage

Earth in the future is in chaos. The environment is rebelling. Drought is everywhere. Water is growing scarce. Worries about food abound. Can war be far behind?

It’s the usual class of disaster movie dangers.

Only this isn’t a disaster movie. Ironically, and to be very clear, the movie, itself, is a disaster but it’s not about the disasters befalling the Earth. It’s about saving the species, homo sapiens. To make that happen, 30 children are test-tube produced, raised in isolation and when they’re “ready,” they’re blasted into space with their “teacher.”

The destination is a new home on what Star Trek would call an M-class planet. Problem one, the voyage to the unnamed planet takes 86-years. So these children will be long dead before the ship arrives.

Their job is to reproduce. Their children and grandchildren will eventually land on the planet.

That backstory is given to you in a few minutes by writer/director Neil Burger. The bulk of this bulky Lord of the Flies in space saga comes when the 30 kids become young adults. They begin to question the authority of their teacher, Richard, and the wisdom of those on Earth controlling the flight.

Oh — and they’re bored out of their skulls. Who wouldn’t be? And by the time things heat up, you’re as bored as the film’s characters.

Bored people do bored people things. Zac and Chris discover the blue juice the voyagers drink every day is designed to suppress their libidos a bit. The juice also inhibits the not-so-bright spontaneous decisions young adults often make and a bunch of other things. The two guys also find secrets on the ship that aren’t shared with the children.

Chris and Zac wonder why. They ask Richard who asks Earth. Communication with the mother planet takes months. So Earth’s answer won’t get back to them in a timely manner.

Young and bored adults aren’t good at waiting.

And they don’t. The decline into debauchery starts when Zac makes an inappropriate sexual move toward Sela. That is a no-no and sets off a chain of events that eventually leads to Richard’s death. Chris is elected leader. Zac — who is a more natural leader — rebels. The downhill slide accelerates.

For the young people, the mission is aborted and chaos reigns.

The rebellion against authority — as noted earlier — has much in common with Lord of the Flies. We’re all familiar with the premise. When moral authority is lost and is gone for good, no good can happen.

In this case, lives are lost, untold damage is done to the ship and — alas — to you, the moviegoer.

Burger did the original “Divergent” movie. Like “Voyagers,” it wasn’t very good but it did show he understands the struggles of young adulthood. He also knows how to work with a cast of very good young actors. Among them is Ready Player One’s, Tye Sheridan, Dunkirk’s, Fionn Whitehead, Johnny Depp’s daughter, Lily-Rose Depp and Isaac Hempstead Wright from Game of Thrones.

The aforementioned actors, and those I didn’t mention, and Colin Ferrell, who plays Richard, bring it home. This is especially true for Whitehead who is a terrific villain. So I have no complaints at all in the acting department.

The problem is the story. To start with, Burger opts for the PG-13 rating. If you’re going to push this theme, a hard R-rating is critical. The lack of real-looking violence, real-looking sexual degeneracy, and the language that accompanies such acts makes Burger’s concept seem staged. There’s nothing spontaneous in his film. Make the unfolding events a little deeper, and a little more personal, and this movie might have worked.

If you’re going to go all out to show how, without restraints and the leadership of wise adults, children will tend to go off the deep end, then they need to actually go off the deep end.

“Voyagers” is a voyage you’ll likely want to skip.

▪ Rated PG-13 for mature themes, violence and some language. It’s playing at the Fairchild Cinemas Southgate 10 and the Queensgate 12 and at the AMC Kennewick Classic.

▪ Rating: 2 out of 5

This story was originally published April 15, 2021 at 8:27 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘Voyagers’ is a predictable voyage."