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Feb. 20th, 2021 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsAlthough I'm aware it's a beloved trope, I'm not sure I would actually describe most of the space fiction I've experienced as 'found family in space'. Coworkers in space is fine! Office friendships in space! Professional space working relationships!
The new film Space Sweepers, however, is the exception that proves this rule. The plot of Space Sweepers is "a crew of angry misfits suffering under crushing debt and capitalism accidentally adopt a daughter and as a side benefit save the Earth from Even Eviller Elon Musk," and it is in fact, I would say, the platonic ideal of found family in space!
Clockwise starting from Kim Tae-ri in sunglasses, we've got:
Captain Jang (Kim Tae-ri), the fearsome and foul-mouthed owner of the crew's tricked-out space garbage collection vehicle; captainspreads like a champion, rolls a natural 20 on all her intimidation rolls, gets thirty brief seconds of tragic backstory in which the filmmakers rush to cram in as many Cool Points as they POSSIBLY can. devastatingly hot! invented a talking gun!!
Bubs the robot (Yoo Hae-jin), most frequently in possession of the crew's single collective braincell; looking forward to inheriting the ship when they all succumb to debt and starve. A style icon with quietly emphasized gender feelings that I did not expect from this film about space trash!
Tiger Park (Jin Seon-kyu), the muscle; former gangster, never seen without his machete, goes from zero to dad in less time than it takes to say "let's sell this adorable baby robot to the mafia!"
Kim Tae-ho (Song Joong-ki), the saddest and most protagonist-y member of the crew and also the most stressed about all the money they are constantly doing the opposite of making, for Tragic Backstory reasons; opened his heart to an adorable child once before and is NOT ready to love again, but sometimes fate has decreed that you are GOING to be a found family in space and there is just Nothing You Can Do About It
Some other facts of note about this film:
- contains absolutely no romantic subplots, explicit or hinted, between any of the leads; one pining side character sings self-written ballads to Captain Jang over the radio but honestly who could blame him for this, have you seen Captain Jang
- Richard Armitage is there as Even Eviller Elon Musk and he is doing his level best to chew all the scenery he is given to make up for the fact that none of his scenes a.) have an adorable child in them or b.) make any sense
- if you have a question about how any of the science works: nanobots did it, it's fine, you don't need to know, HEY LOOK OVER THERE IT'S AN EXPLOSION
The new film Space Sweepers, however, is the exception that proves this rule. The plot of Space Sweepers is "a crew of angry misfits suffering under crushing debt and capitalism accidentally adopt a daughter and as a side benefit save the Earth from Even Eviller Elon Musk," and it is in fact, I would say, the platonic ideal of found family in space!
Clockwise starting from Kim Tae-ri in sunglasses, we've got:
Captain Jang (Kim Tae-ri), the fearsome and foul-mouthed owner of the crew's tricked-out space garbage collection vehicle; captainspreads like a champion, rolls a natural 20 on all her intimidation rolls, gets thirty brief seconds of tragic backstory in which the filmmakers rush to cram in as many Cool Points as they POSSIBLY can. devastatingly hot! invented a talking gun!!
Bubs the robot (Yoo Hae-jin), most frequently in possession of the crew's single collective braincell; looking forward to inheriting the ship when they all succumb to debt and starve. A style icon with quietly emphasized gender feelings that I did not expect from this film about space trash!
Tiger Park (Jin Seon-kyu), the muscle; former gangster, never seen without his machete, goes from zero to dad in less time than it takes to say "let's sell this adorable baby robot to the mafia!"
Kim Tae-ho (Song Joong-ki), the saddest and most protagonist-y member of the crew and also the most stressed about all the money they are constantly doing the opposite of making, for Tragic Backstory reasons; opened his heart to an adorable child once before and is NOT ready to love again, but sometimes fate has decreed that you are GOING to be a found family in space and there is just Nothing You Can Do About It
Some other facts of note about this film:
- contains absolutely no romantic subplots, explicit or hinted, between any of the leads; one pining side character sings self-written ballads to Captain Jang over the radio but honestly who could blame him for this, have you seen Captain Jang
- Richard Armitage is there as Even Eviller Elon Musk and he is doing his level best to chew all the scenery he is given to make up for the fact that none of his scenes a.) have an adorable child in them or b.) make any sense
- if you have a question about how any of the science works: nanobots did it, it's fine, you don't need to know, HEY LOOK OVER THERE IT'S AN EXPLOSION
