Josh Gordon and Will Speck’s “Distant” (2024) joins the ranks of schlocky outer-space dramas that are as generic, predictable, and trope-y as they get. Random creatures are mounted as assailants. They are predators and that throughline is taken to supply the narrative with blasts of action and heightened chase sequences. The drama is dialed up, and moments of stillness and companionship are shattered by the invasion of massive threats. Surprise at the threat is followed by attempts to outdo the stalking monster. Life, endangered as it is, becomes doubly imperiled. Escape is evasive. Hope seems forsaken, yet the two characters persist.
The lesson here is solidarity and allyship, a chance connection that rips out peril. Hope shines brighter in this companionship, despite physical separateness. The emotional need for anchorage trumps obstacles and looming danger. Backstories peep out in scattered mini-flashbacks. Trauma and loss are entrenched deep. Nevertheless, people fight back, latching onto whatever is available. The performances are just sincere, although the screenplay is woefully cliché-ridden, relying on stock monsters to amp up pace and trepidation.
Distant (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Lost in Space: Can Andy Ramirez Survive the Unknown?
The aim for pacy thrills doesn’t land at all since the world-building feels resolutely inchoate, and depthless. Energy revved up is flattened in the excess of direly banal characterization if we can accord it such dignity. The writing is gratingly bland and subject to gross generalizations, bunging in grief and loss to prop up a sense of characterization. Furthermore, Spenser Cohen’s screenplay positions the protagonist as being disoriented in the wake of the orbit path swerving off course. How can he pull himself back onto stability when he encounters a slew of unexpected predators? He, Andy Ramirez (Anthony Ramos), is startled and clueless but his kindness and generosity to extend help to a stranger also stranded.
The film opens with Andy, an asteroid miner, crashing onto an alien planet. It is an unexpected trajectory. He hasn’t foreseen it. It ends horridly for Andy. But he doesn’t die. Survival then becomes a complex thing to sort out. Andy doesn’t exactly have the tact and smarts savvy asteroid miners would have. He is running low on oxygen. Andy wanders through the alien planet without expecting to find a human face. But he doesn’t wallow in melancholy. He has fortitude that pushes him through. Suddenly, he runs into a fellow human. It is a guy called Dwayne (Kristofer Hivju). Hope re-materialises and it seems unshakable. Things looked sunny when all seemed doomed. As quickly as hope reappears for Andy, it also vanishes.
Should Andy Risk It All to Save Naomi?
Dwayne tells him how companies often force pods to take shortcuts to save fuel, which is what occasions the plummet. They are sorry victims of such terrible, unwise decisions. Nevertheless, Dwayne succeeds in sending transmissions to Earth for help. It would require a year at least for help to arrive. Suddenly Dwayne is pulled away by a seeming predator. He disappears. Andy doesn’t notice it. He is flabbergasted. Where did Dwayne vanish? He didn’t witness the sudden attack, the forceful pull. Before he can mull over the mystery, Andy receives another transmission. It’s a woman called Naomi (Naomi Calloway). She’s out somewhere far off and asks for Andy’s help.
Naomi has gotten trapped in her pod. Her leg is inconveniently stuck. She needs him to pull her out. He also would do well to head towards her because she has the oxygen stuff which he badly requires. Without it in due time, he would pop off. However, his personal assistant Leonard strongly warns him not to go out and search for Naomi. Moreover, it tells that the route is rife with danger. The terrain is inhospitable, and the temperatures are extreme. It is simply not possible, he is insistently cautioned against plunging and helping Naomi.
Can Andy and Naomi Outrun the Unknown?
Nevertheless, Naomi urges him not to listen to Leonard, stating it’s simply engineered to suit corporate ends so that the equipment stays fine. She exhorts him to help her out. Both would benefit each other equally. Survivors must band together. It is critical and essential in a place as remote as this. He decides to trust her and ventures forth. Via comms, they keep being in constant dialogue. There’s frankness in their exchanges. Both quickly become close chatting in the dark on a forlorn planet.
On the way to Naomi, Andy discovers scorpion-like alien creatures lurking all over the terrain. They chase him. He finds himself almost sucked underground, into the mouth of the monster, but fireflies help him out. Finally, he reaches Naomi’s pod and extracts her out of it. She is relieved that her worst has passed her. She is safe at last. But is she? It’s an illusion of safety. Quickly, danger shows up in the full spectacle. The creatures come out and chase them. She is shocked and has never seen anything like it.
Distant (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Are Andy and Naomi killed by the creatures?
The climax is a feverish, frenzied hewing of breathless chase sequences. The two characters try to escape the grasp of the creatures, which are singularly aimed at attacking them. Can they make it alive, safe, and sound? It doesn’t seem probable. But of course, it is. Staggering, they make it to the evacuee ship. It may not be as immune and resistant to intruders as they think. Soon, a creature breaks in.
The duo believes it’s all over for them. It is the cue for sentimental sections of Andy reminiscing about the family he lost in an accident, his wife and son. It is a moment of tender grief, cutting in pathos however it feels slight and insignificant and just inconsequential. Things seem entirely to go downhill for them as they scamper through the deserted ship, scrambling through the discards. The creature is at their back. Andy gets into his pod and instructs his assistant to descend on the creature at the opportune moment. The pod crashes down on it and it gets killed. The film ends with Andy and Naomi, relieved, staring out of the ship at the distance, hopeful of forthcoming rescue. But it will take a while. There may be other predators lurking. At least, they have each other.
