“But now I realize this is one of those rare opportunities that could truly give my life meaning beyond anything I could imagine.”

From Stowaway.

After a successful takeoff and launch deep into space, Commander Barrett (Toni Collette) is thrilled to continue on the two-year mission to Mars.  The other two members of the mission, doctor Zoe (Anna Kendrick) and botanist David (Daniel Dae Kim), are also excited for the opportunities the mission will provide for scientific advancement on Mars, so they settle into their new lives on the ship.  Twelve hours into their mission, Barrett notices a drop of blood coming from the ceiling and when she hastily removes the panel, she discovers an injured and unconscious launch support engineer.  In the excitement of getting the engineer, Michael (Shamier Anderson), out of the ceiling, Barrett’s arm is broken and the ship’s carbon-dioxide scrubber is damaged.  Unable to turn back because of their fuel level and mission importance, Michael is forced to stay on the mission while Barrett reaches out to mission control trying to figure out how to move forward with the extra person onboard the small ship.  When Barrett learns that the carbon-dioxide scrubber was damaged beyond repair, she asks David to try developing the algae that was supposed to be used for his research on Mars, with the hope that the growth of the algae would provide enough desperately-needed oxygen.  For the first few days, things work well, but when disaster strikes the algae, mission control informs Barrett that the current amounts of oxygen available will run out on the four people before they reach Mars.  Informed that the only chance at mission survival will require asking Michael to die, Barrett shares the information with Zoe and David, but Zoe refuses to let Michael die without trying every other option.  As time quickly runs out, David reluctantly pushes for the painful solution, but Zoe convinces Barrett to let her try one last-ditch effort to save Michael and the mission before the oxygen runs out.

While the majority of this sci-fi movie leans more towards drama than thriller, the final quarter of the film will meet excitement requirements for fans.  The small cast and set never feel limiting, but actually enrich the story.  An interesting look at calamity in space, Stowaway will keep viewers on the edge of the seat until the credits roll.

| Rated: TV-MA | Running Time: 116 minutes |Genre: thriller/sci-fi/drama|

||Family Viewing||Cursing: 4* of 10|Nudity: 0 of 10|Sexuality: 0 of 10|Gore: 2 of 10

|AVAILABLE FOR HOME VIEWING|