Space Sweepers

Standard blockbusters may not appear to try to rise above what's expected of them but there's something comforting when kicking back for some goofy antics. The way they can find ways to break reality and launch misfit protagonists into a long quest to somehow preventing world conquering (or ending) plans. Before cinematic universes such as Marvel dominated that field, those old-school relics such as Independence Day felt like one of a kind for their time. That's all on the American side where it's commonly associated whereas international interpretations of those aren't brought up as much. This brings us to a Korean space blockbuster, Space Sweepers, which was directed by Jo Sung-hee and debuted on Netflix. With the mixture of foreign language film among the platforms large 2021 slate, I decided to check it out since I remembered having a good time with a Chinese sci-fi film The Wandering Earth (2019) and wanted to give this it after. After watching it, I ended up being surprised by how much I liked it. 

What's it about? Taking place in a future where Earth has been desolated and corporate orbital stations exist, a group of space debris dealers find someone with a crucial role in a nefarious plan. The setting for this premise is pretty fascinating to look at seeing different groups of people competing for survival depending on their citizenship and how much cash they can scrounge up. The stakes at hand get as crazy with the dire consequences but manages enough investment with its central protagonist as it moves along. The cheese factor is very much intact as this adventure knows what kind of adventure it is and stick to its fun albeit formulaic approach. While there isn't as much action that some would hope for, the sequences that are available provide some cool thrills (the third act in particular).

For all of its fun, there are issues that do hold it back. It takes a long while before learning about this group of misfits with the exposition details and there isn't much development for them. Because the characters here range between American and Korean actors, the dialogue alternates quite a bit between those respective languages, which might distract some. The villain himself leaves much to be desired as his motivations are pretty rushed. 

 

How are the actors? In regards to story importance, the actors to focus on are Song Joong-ki, Yoo Hae-jin, and Park Ye-rin. Song gives a good performance where it may not seem like much at first but does more with it later on where his character motivation matters. Yoo is a standout among the cast for having more personality as a droid where his voice acting has fun quirks to liven things up as well as solid delivery of exposition. Park does a fine job with her plot important role where her innocence and good intentions are nice to watch. Honorable mentions Jin Seon-kyu and Richard Armitage with the former having cool moments while the latter is having a bit of fun going over the top sinister.

Overall Consensus: Space Sweepers sticks to its sci-fi adventure strengths in providing ridiculous high stakes conflict, solid acting, interesting setting, and plenty of cheese moments, despite suffering from writing issues. ⭑⭑⭑⭑ Runtime: 2 hour 16 minutes R

 

Reasons to watch it: You are a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Jo Sung-hee. You are in the mood for a cheesy adventure in a near future setting. You don't mind a mixture of languages during conversations. 

 

Reasons to avoid it: You aren't a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Jo Sung-hee. You aren't in the mood for a cheesy adventure in a near future setting. You have an issue with mixture of languages during conversations.