This film has far too many similarities between the film I saw yesterday, Everything, Everything, Both have a teenager too sick to leave their homes and both feature a parent who has made despicable decisions for their own good.
Here, features East Texas, the brainchild of Nathaniel Shepherd (a miscast Gary Oldman), which also happens to be a colony on Mars. Things get ruined when lead astronaut Sarah Elliott (Janet Montgomery) is discovered to be pregnant. This could potentially ruin the mission, and then things get worse when she dies shortly after giving birth, from preeclampsia and her son is left to be raised by scientists as his body is too weak to survive on Earth. And the whole thing is covered up to avoid bad PR so the funding doesn't dry up. So Gardner (Asa Butterfield) is raised in a space station on Mars, too smart and too curious for his own good. He wants nothing more than to go to Earth and meet his online friend, Tulsa (Britt Robertson), stuck in the foster care system. And finally, the astronaut in care of more or less keeping an eye on him, Kendra (Carla Gugino), finally is able to persuade both the psychiatrist Tom (BD Wong) and Nathaniel to let him come down to Earth. However, there are still complications. With his weak bones and enlarged heart, even making the journey and operations are dangerous, and then there is still something wrong with his blood. But he escapes anyway, somehow, despite all the people looking for him and all the security cameras watching his every move. Then a massive chase is set for him, with the local authorities on guard and Kendra and Nathaniel in a helicopter. But he somehow gets into Tulsa's high school and then they runaway together, slipping out of the authorities grasp. They are on the run, breaking laws without care, during their travels, they steal three cars and fall in love. They escape from a hospital as Gardner is dangerously ill and realizes it, which also makes Tulsa understand that he wasn't actually lying to her. He wants to find his father, a man whom no one knows the identity of. They follow the few clues they have which leads them to an Indian reservation in Arizona where they get an address and continue on to California only to have a shock when they find that the man in all of Sarah's pictures is actually her brother (Colin Egglesfield). It was then when I had the sick realization that Nathaniel was actually his father. I was livid, to say the least.
Before Gardner discovered who his father was, he decides that he wants to die in the Pacific Ocean, where his mother's ashes are scattered and Tulsa sadly lets him. Until Nathaniel pulls him out the ocean and then gets him to a hospital, in a plane. But he needs to get higher and Nathaniel, despite being told not to, gets the plane higher so the gravity is minimal, so Gardner can live. And he does live. He returns to Mars, with his father by his side, ignoring his own health issues (Nathaniel's). Kendra is put in charge of the training program and adopts Tulsa, though she never had the strong material instinct urge. Tulsa, to no one's surprise, starts training to become an astronaut, I guess she doesn't need college or anything first and Gardner is just glad to be home. He really is.
Okay, I have plenty of problems with this film. Nathaniel is a sick man, refusing to let his plans be ruined. The public was lied to, no one knows that Gardner exists, he's classified, though you would think that someone would have told as others have come and gone. And that is sick, covering up a whole human being for some money. And then accusing Sarah of being irresponsible, coming from Nathaniel, that's just rich. And sick. Also, there is this lovely little invention called a condom, for the record.
The performances are also mediocre and these are good actors. The chemistry wasn't great between Butterfield and Robertson though the age difference between them wasn't that noticeable. I didn't find their performances believable, not really and the film needed that. I didn't believe Butterfield's face when he saw a horse for the first time and Tulsa wasn't that damaged from being in the system, though she claimed to be. Nothing just seemed possible in this film, and there was nothing inventive or realistic about it. It should have been excellent and instead it was mediocre at best. Nothing was spectacular and it left me feeling nothing. I barely believed that they were even in love. Grade: C+
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