User reviews

This has to be like the fourth or fifth movie featuring astronauts on a distant mission, but being about the psychological state of the lead character, in the last few years. This things are usually giving themselves away immediately: artificial gravity, LED light everywhere, big screens, big spaces, lectures for children about the Solar System given to trained astronauts, things unravelling or not making sense, but always, always someone obsessively thinking about people in their past: lovers, children, parents. Because it makes perfect sense for a person to go through years of rigorous training to perform a specific mission and then, when they get the job, out of a lot of hard working and highly motivated candidates, they spend it regretting things and thinking about the past. And they were the best candidate out of them all!

What's the point?! Who watched these and then said "yes, that's exactly what I needed! A psychological drama, but set in space, although nothing spacy really happens!"? Science fiction folk don't care about the drama of it, they want the action and the science and the gadgets and maybe to feel that there is more to life than just the daily whining of people. And drama people want some sort of highly emotional story involving multiple people, but somehow resembling their life, not some person in a small space having a fit. What a completely useless film!

So, yeah, let's call this small-space-fiction. And the writer is Nathan Parker, of Moon fame! He did one good film about a guy alone on a space station 15 years ago and thought to remake it, but without a story?

Bottom line: the story is so flimsy that I can't talk about it without spoiling it. All I can say is that this is not science fiction, because there is no science, and one can hardly call it fiction, because it doesn't have the coherence of fiction. It's like a nightmare that makes no sense and you barely remember when you wake up from it. The only positive thing is that it was decently acted.

Slingshot is primarily a psychological drama, which happens to be set in a Science Fiction universe. But anyone going to this movie hoping for a space actioner or some space opera will leave very disappointed.

In a twisty turny narrative that could have been shortened by 15 or 20 minutes without losing any impact, the three lead actors give outstanding performances, but there is a lot of repetition, and the middle third of the film really drags.

At the same time, it certainly keeps you thinking, and the ending is extremely gripping and tense.

This is not a film at the same level as Space Odyssey, Or Solaris. But if you have a brain and you want to be provoked into thinking about the nature of love and humanity faced by existential crises this is not a bad movie at all.

Anytime you have a movie in which you learn almost immediately that the protagonist has been subjected to a hibernation-inducing drug (here Casey Affleck) that can cause "confusion and/or memory disturbances" - and there are MULTIPLE "hibernations" - from thence on it really becomes a guessing game what's real, what's not real, who's imaginary, who not, and from what point did the "false reality" start. And this movie had ALL those elements.

And then when you get a drip drip drip of flashbacks you realize there's so much that you can't possibly know, the "what's really going on" is virtually unguessable.

The ship itself was too generic to be special. There are no shots of the ship from the exterior (we later learn why), the acting was adequate but nothing special, there was not very much action except for a few struggles for a gun, no spacewalks, really no twists "within the false reality" - so I didn't find a lot to be impressed about.

His romantic interest Zoe (Emily Beecham) was adorable and truly likable but of course you're wondering throughout the movie whether she's even real or did she die at some point.

It did seem perplexing that when there was a critical uncertainty whether the hull had been damaged or breached they didn't consider a spacewalk to perform a visual inspection. I mean ... that alone would determine if they continue or abort the entire mission.

Also, at the end, when Affleck has to make the critical decision whether this is all real or a false reality a la Total Recall (open the airlock), he seemingly could have put on a spacesuit with a tether "just in case."

For these reasons I'm rating the movie a "6" - just above an average "5".

There's a moment right at the end that would have elevated this film to something really worth recommending. Some movies greatly benefit from a conclusion open to interpretation. This is one of them. It gave me the same feeling I had all those years ago watching Total Recall. But they didn't do that here. The final scene is very clear and I think that was a poor choice. Unless the focus is commentary on human behavior, in which case it makes sense. Still, the alternative would have been spectacular.

How cool is Laurence Fishburne? He's been one of my favorite actors since Event Horizon + The Matrix, and in each project following that he never misses. Role of the captain he plays is pretty much perfect. Even when the twists, turns and second-guessing begins, it still fits whatever outcome you may have in mind. That kind of presence and versatility is pure talent, and I never get tired of seeing it. Everybody else does a great job in their respective roles, but Morpheus steals the show.

They likely could have removed 15 minutes and the film would have been better for it. You can definitely feel some drag. While this doesn't outright ruin anything, I probably would have rated it higher otherwise.

The best part of this movie is the ending, which will deceive the viewer several times. Laurence Fishburne played his role, as always, perfectly. Casey Affleck did well, but I was never impressed by his performance, although this is just my personal subjective judgment. Yes, it's not easy to watch this movie to the end, and this is its main disadvantage, it was especially hard for me to watch Affleck's caramel flashbacks, but I still watched this movie - the film turned out to be quite good. Given the complexity of the plot and ambiguous characters, it is impossible not to mention the merits of the director. Visual style, musical accompaniment - all this works to create a unique closed atmosphere. The film may not become a cult classic, but it definitely deserves the attention of those who like thoughtful and ambiguous stories.

And by another one, I mean yet another arthouse psychological thriller sci-fi. Again. What ever happened to the good old Sci-fi action survival thriller where nobody is "wrestling with the ghosts of their past", struggling with their sanity, or wondering what is real or not...blah blah. Seems like the vast majority of Sci-fi is that BS, not anything really interesting or entertaining anymore. Some of them had the potential to become great movies, but were ruined by the writing and the direction... and the plot, and the story...etc.

Please.... for the love of GOD, can someone make Sci-fi great again??

Mindgames and science fiction have traditionally gone together well. This one played a lot of mind games and it was done on a lower budget, I expect.

Pure psychological science-fiction with several twists at the end. It was one of those films that you really didn't know where it was going until it got there. I liked how it flipped back and forth between the past and the current deep space expedition. It helped put things in context.

Affleck and Fishbourne played their roles to the tee. At a certain point it felt redundant but I guess it was not unexpected given the outcome.

In a year or so it will probably get relegated to endless repeats on one of the streaming film channels.

I saw Slingshot early as part of AMC's Screen Unseen. As a self-proclaimed sci-fi junkie, I approved of the selection. Knowing zero about the movie beforehand made the experience even better. Everything was set up for success.

Yet success was not achieved. And it's pretty clear why. There isn't nearly enough substance for a full length movie. Very little happens, making the viewing experience fairly boring. I watched the trailer afterwards and it's more exciting than anything in the movie.

The best part is the cast with good performances all around. And there are some interesting story elements that come into play late. But by that point I was mostly checked out.

If you feel underwhelmed like I did, try Sunshine (2007) for a significantly better experience. More exciting and a cast that dwarfs that of Slingshot.

(1 viewing, early screening AMC Screen Unseen 8/26/2024)

A small set/cast, trapped in space psychological type movie with some romance. I nearly turned it off a few times but I like sci fi, Affleck and Morpheus. Just when I was about to give up it made me LOL so I persisted and it was ok. Start was solid, middle was kinda empty and the ending was actually good. Affleck and Morpheus were great. The other guy was fine but he's having a breakdown a bit easily - they're supposed to be highly trained astronauts and he loses it over some danger? Wouldn't they have planned for such a scenario? Some cliche space stuff and typical fidgeting from the tense guy. But it's not all bad, you never really know what's actually going on until the end. They managed to make a compelling ending out of not much. The final scene will probably stick with me a while. 6.5 out of 10 for me.

The script lacks in the science and engineering department, and the characters seem incompetent.

Within the first 20 minutes, we already know the main protagonist is an unreliable narrator who exudes whatever the opposite of confidence and leadership is. His crewmate is similarly unreliable, talking behind the captains back. The captain calls the spaceship an 'aircraft' and handwave-explains 'fatigue and buckling' despite there being no explanation for what would cause cyclic stresses on the structure. We also got in the first 30 minutes that their mission is to reach Titan's methane, to make fuel, to somehow solve climate change. It all just sounds like mumbo-jumbo written by an arts student.

You need something like Andy Weir's 'The Martian' or the upcoming Project Hail Mary adaption; i.e. The best-of-the-best astronauts being actually believable world-class highly trained and skilled experts and problem-solvers. The physics doesn't have to be 100% in a sci-fi (Interstellar worked pretty well throughout bar that one line about love transcending space and time), but for any deviations the characters have to 100% support the narrative for it to be believed by the audience. These astronauts are immediately whispering to each other about mutiny from the start... and keep forgetting that there's audiovideo recording in each room allowing the captain to hear the sceme. I can't believe that these characters are actually astronauts.

Please please please stop with this artificially induced drama hinging on main characters being incompetent, keeping secrets from each other, or scheming against each other for no good reaon. Stop with the secrets which the 3rd party witnesses... It's like where movies have 2 people talk or kiss, for the 3rd jealous person to spot it or to get the wrong impression. It's a frustrating cliche. If the drama would be resolved by one character speaking one sentence to another character, it's weak writing.

With Insterstellar, I felt awe that made my arm hairs stand on end. With Slingshot I just feel frustrated and claustrophobic. Slingshot is weak writing.

I expected this to be a typical b space movie with jump scares based on the trailer. I didn't have any expectations going into this movie. I was just in the mood for a space movie and I was prepared not to make it through the movie.

I think it does a good job of showing the possible effects of that scenario on the mind.

It also had some emotional stuff that helped the story stick in mind.

There's a twist, and then another twist at the end. If you've watched as much Sci-Fi as me, you'll probably predict the ending.

I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, and it wasn't unique, but it worked for me. As for whether I'd recommend it to others, I say watch until you get bored, because, as you can see, many other reviews don't agree with me.

Casey Afleck is one of my favourite actors so even though I didnt think much of the synopsis, I decided to watch this one anyway. As a sci-fi junkie I have high standards, and this move really didn't live up to any of them.

The acting is actuallly first rate. All the cast do a superb job with the meterial, but the meterial is threadbare and too small for the garment the production is trying to make.

Waking up and finding yourself on a space ship with lawrence Fishbourne is a frightening enough prospect in itself. Its like beaming down on a planet as a noobie with the regular members of a star trek away team. Its like being the black guy in a horror movie. Things obviously don't bode well and it doesn't take long before things start sliding down hill... who knew.

Worse for our protagonist, is the fact that he's woken from hibernation... serveral times. You don't need to be Einstein to guess the 'is it real or is it a dream" trope comes into play. Good grief! This has angle is more played out than lambo doors. I'm really tired of it, and this movie doesn't just employ it, it bashes you over the head with it, revives you then gives you a nother thorough pasting.

The movie doesn't really go anywhere because of this, and even though it is intresting to a point, the experience gets old pretty quickly.

I didn't actually make it to the end unfortunately as it simply wasns't worth the investment in time. I think 2/3 of the way through was as much punisment as I could stand.

As a rule, I never give a moive I can't make to the end more than 4/10 since it has to get at least 5 to be worth watching to completion. I think most people will give this a meh, some will like it, but I doubt even enthusiasticc viewers wouldn't see past a 7 because it's simply not that good... or even any good.

I give this one 4/10. I.

I went in without any knowledge or info beforehand.

Seeing Laurence Fishbourne's starring I thought it be good.

But I was very wrong, his acting talents was wasted on this movie.

This movie tagline is about 3 people on an mission to "slingshot" using jupiter's gravity towards the saturn's moon titan.

Which is misleading!

What it's really about = cam-up close & personal with John "casey affleck" waking up from hibernation, experiencing side effects from the hibernation drug, mumbles incoherently groggy/wheezing voice.

Very annoying to listen to & make sense of, and his groggy actions/behavior frustrating to sit out.

It was like watching an drunk or drug junkie, passing for astronaut.

Performs routine crew tasks for few mins & goes into hibernation again.

And each time the effects gets worse & tensions builds with the other 2 crew members. That's it, that's the real plot!

Laurence fishbourne plays the captain, his acting was good and so was his delivery in speech, the other actors were passable. But casey's performance totally annoying.

I'm sure many sci fi action fans would be walking out fast or had already skipped this movie.

The entire movie was a waste of time. I sat out cause I paid for it.

The slingshot is only like 60sec of this 100min movie. And approx 70% of screen time is spent on flashbacks of his relationship, from their first meeting till break up.

Sidenote: relationship/attraction not plausible/realistic, mismatch of character personalities

This is no psychological thriller IMHO, no suspense at all.

Just an display of acting groggy & whine for 100mins.

And the director also had the audacity to lame plot-twist the ending, suggesting whether any of it was real or imagined due to hibernation drug.

Even this was entirely predictable, with my very reserved mother in her 60's remarking "Ah come-on! Lame!"

As an sci fi movie lover this flick was lame & a waste of time.

I think an die hard sci-fi fan would remark much worse things than my mother did lol

Don't watch this in cinema wasting your time & money.

If you are still curious, watch it for free somewhere. Save your money.

I never say this, but this one is an deserved flop.

I saw some reviews comparing this to "Solaris" but this trash doesn't compare against that.

"Moon" which was an slow paced psychological thriller too, is an much better comparison, but was also much better executed & things happening.

As for proper psychological space thriller "Pandorum" is an good example.

But this trash "Slingshot" doesn't come anywhere close, like I said no suspense at all.

Hope this helps to inform you. Cheers & Be well.

I FELT the movie could have been 10-15 minutes shorter while accomplishing the goal and fulfilling the story, about 2 minutes before the ending came about.

WHEN I see a movie and want to talk to my wife about it, then the movie did a thing right. I am the guy people look to, 20 minutes in and say " You know who did it/what happened/Whose next...don't ya?" And, to be fair, the answer is YES more than NO. Writing in today's scape is regurgitated. No slight to writers and directors , as there are so few UNIQUE and NEW ideas, so you have to work with what can be done.

The writing done here and the acting were ..as perfect as I think can be done in today's movies. With so many films being reboot, redone, reworked, and rereleased , to find a movie where the writer sat back and so he was going to make sure everyone had all they needed...and still get it wrong...and ME being wrong, was a SHEER thrill.

THIS movie, as slow and inverted as it comes off, GIVES entertainment, like the drop of a roller coaster. You are not paying for the climb, or the trip back to the station, but the DROP and the CORKSCREW. Like that, you know something is coming, you know when it is coming, and then it comes. AS you get older the DROP is far less as exciting, but you smile for the grandkids. This movie gives that DROP feeling back on a psychological " I was wrong" level, that gives pure pleasure.

7/10 FOR the plot, delivery, the LULL, and the ending. Sans 3 for making me feel it was boring for an hour.

Watch it and you are welcome.

There's nothing we haven't seen before in Slingshot from the setting to the twist however the main cast work well together. Casey Affleck and Laurence Fishbourne are brilliant actors and their tense interactions throughout carry the film for my tastes. The setting is somewhat bleak and plot feels disjointed though perhaps that's intentional in order to reflect Affleck characters mental state.

Beyond the story one thing truly of note is the music. I'd not heard of the performer before but I had to watch to the end of the credits to discover Katy Hurt whose song is used throughout and provides a stark contrast to the fraying crew. Well worthy checking out!

People who look for sci-fi are usually smarter than most. Yet dum people don't know this, and keep making dum choices in writing, directing and acting.

Flaws in this movie: 1) Ship's operational system that doesn't work properly.

2) Astronauts that don't know everything about their ship.

3) A huge ship with only 3 astronauts.

4) Astronauts that have been extensively tested and vetted by nasa, and yet are very afraid of death and emotionally unstable, instead of accepting the huge possibility of them dying in a mission.

5) a major operation with very little backup resources.

6) astronaut brings alcohol and a gun on board.

7) Nasa relying the mission on a drug that hasn't been tested on their astronauts.

While traveling on board of the spaceship Odyssey1 to Titan, the astronaut John (Casey Affleck) awakens from the three-month- hibernation cycle to perform tests on the systems. Together with him, are Captain Franks (Laurence Fishburne) and Nash (Tomer Capone) to test the systems and communicate with Houston. The computer system warns that disorientation is normal after the hibernation since the used drug has side effects. John forgets the last name of his girlfriend Zoe Morgan (Emily Beecham) and when he sleeps again for the next cycle, he recalls how the leader of the mission, Sam Napier (David Morrissey), introduced the engineer Zoe Morgan to him and how they became lovers. When John awakes again, a panel on the ceiling hits his head and after the inspection, they realize a structural damage on the hull, but the computer has not recorded any collision along their journey. Nash becomes paranoid with a possible structural failure and what might happen to them after the slingshot maneuver in Jupiter that will increase their speed to Titan and tries to convince John to change the course of Odyssey 1 back to Earth. However, Capt. Franks overhears their conversation and together with John, successfully performs the slingshot maneuver. They hibernate again and one the next awakening, Nash seems to be completely hallucinated and has sabotaged the reactor using John's password. When John sleeps again, he sees Capt. Franks apparently killing Nash. When he awakes, he asks for Nash and Capt. Franks carries a pistol everywhere. Now John becomes paranoid and when Capt. Franks tells who Zoe is, John questions his sanity and whether the Captain and Nash are real.

"Slingshot" (2024) is a suspenseful and intelligent Sci-fi movie based on paranoia and hallucination in deep space. The plot has many twists along the story and keeps the tension of the viewer that learns only the truth in the very last scene. The screenplay is very well written, developing the relationship of John and Zoe in flashbacks, and the direction is tight, surprising the viewers that believe in IMDb Rating. The conclusion may not satisfy the viewers that enjoy happy endings or do not understand the plot. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Slingshot"

Science fiction is my first love so I have to admit I got pretty excited when I first discovered this film but after I hit the launch button I was disappointed that it was unable to reach orbit. The most generous thing I can say about it is it has great sets and Good actors. Looks kinda like a film due to a efforts of a good D. O. P. But functions more like a cure for insomnia due to derivative story we all know well. I Can't help but feel the script should of stayed in deep hibernation along with the characters despite the efforts of a valiant cast fighting to bring them to life. Half asleep with one eye open I was still able to sniff out where this was going. Is this one of those tax write off projects I've heard about? I can only bring myself to three stars, one for the sets, one for the D. O. P., and one for managing to convince such a good cast to board a spaceship heading nowhere.

Just another movie with people going nuts in inclosed environments. Submarines, space ships (most of the times), space stations, islands or even dystopian/ totalitarian regimes imaginated on Earth and, why not, dreams or games. The common point: they all see people who aren't there who, after some time, usually after 2/3 of the movie start to plant contradictory informations inside main character's head and obviously trying to missled the viewer, too.

Cutting the long story short, the predictability and the architecture of those infos gives the quality of the movie.

For a period of an hour and 45 minutes Slingshot offers a terrible feeling of "being there, done that" just to conclude with a few ending, not even innovative, scenes sprinkled with mild suspense and tension.

The scenography is flimsy, you can see the thin plastic yourself and there are several scenes where the actors themselves look bored, not to mention the uninspired casting (I think Fishburne has more sci-fi roles in the whole damn Hollywood).

But Casey Afflecks' whispey, murmurings are the least of this B movies failings. Laurence Fishburne goes some way to adding a little acting gravitas to the small ensemble cast, but even he can only do so much with the insipid dialogue. Plot wise, its all pretty thin and has been done before and better. The psychological tensions and romantic flash backs are all reinforced with attending (and overbearing) soundtrack effects and music, but not so much as to make them engaging to this viewer.

Acting aside, there is not a single interesting character in here. Half way into the running time and I don't care about any of them. None of them has a backstory, other than the Hallmark quality romantic flashbacks, and even here, the chemistry between the two is emotionally flat.

Apparently some reviewers here enjoyed it immensely? But from me its a NOOOOO! Or as Mr Affleck might say "noooo".

It's been a long time waiting for a good space movie, plus a layered twist and an unusual ending and I guessed the ending wrong :D . We are taken as the title says by a catapult, thrown here and there, making us confused and wondering which is right. This is how people see things when they are drunk, stressed, hallucinating. For lovers of space Sci-Fi movies and plus like Twist plot movies, watch it, you won't regret it. The ending is beyond reason. Haha. For those who gave a bad rating, I think they like love drama movies or like movies with happy endings, movies with ordinary endings that are easy to guess.

I love outer space movies, from Alien and Star Wars to Ad Astra and Interstellar. So naturally, I gave this one a chance. Big mistake

The movie is a slog. There are no likable characters. Casey Affleck's is supposed to be our hero, but he's so weak and nondescript. I actually found myself liking Lawrence Fishburne's character the most. Maybe they should've revised the movie and made him the hero.

The movie has a twist that is so obvious and cliche that I actually couldn't believe they truly went in that direction. I also don't know what the point of their mission is too: the movie isn't clear about this detail. Exactly why are they going to Titan? Who knows

And most of all - the nonstop flashbacks to Casey Affleck and that girl are so annoying and dull. They completely break up the flow and pacing of the movie. When you want to see more of Affleck and Fishburne, you end up having to sit through meaningless scenes involving Affleck and his lover. I grew restless more than once.

Just a bad movie. I'm glad this movie bombed at the box office.

I recommend this for anyone who loves horror/thriller or any movie which provides a wild ride and blows your mind at the end. Your mind will be blown. Then you will say thank you and walk out of that theater with satisfaction. I have not been as satisfied with the ending of a movie in a while as I was with this movie. Basically, what you'll think is, wow I did not see that coming at all, and then you'll think, oh, well that makes sense too, and then you're mind will be thrown on top of itself and you'll think "ohhh.... My..... goodness...." They were not kidding when they said this was a movie that would give you a unique experience.