Where to even begin with this shit?

It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a movie and was motivated to exorcise my feelings about said movie in a blogpost, but here we are.

AMC Stubs has this deal called Screen Unseen. For any level of membership, including me at the free version, you are offered a cheap ticket to a movie but you will not know the movie going in.

This situation made me a little nervous. What if it ended up being a scary movie and I watched the entire thing through my fingers and had nightmares for the next week? But the ticket was only $10, it was a random Monday night, and I hadn’t treated myself to a solo movie in a while. So why not. 

As I sat for the previews, a new fear arose. I saw a trailer for a movie that gave hints a little too close to one of those Christian movies based on a crazy conspiracy theory and realized if this ended up being a right wing Jesus movie I would simply walk out of the theatre. $10 be damned.

They then showed a preview for the Reagan biopic movie, and in turn I flipped off the screen.

But soon enough, the lights dimmed and the show began. 

When I saw the title, Slingshot, I was relieved. I vaguely knew it was a psychological thriller and was reassured I had a chance of liking this movie.

Now, sitting on my couch writing these words, I can firmly say I ultimately loved this movie but absolutely fucking hated the ending.

**Some spoilers to follow; you have been warned.**

This movie was an excellent psychological thriller. The main character, John, wakes up from hibernation on the Odyssey 1, a spaceship whose sole mission is to reach Titan, a moon of Jupiter. You soon find out he is a part of a three man crew with Captain Franks as the leader and Nash as his other crew mate. 

The movie weaves in flashbacks of John’s life, specifically his time in a romance involving an engineer named Zoey who also worked on the Odyssey 1 project, with their relationship leading up to his departure.

As the story progresses, you have a constant refrain from the onboard computer each time John wakes up from hibernation. The medication that induces his sleep can cause physical and mental side effects. We see this in his crew mate Nash who wants to turn back almost immediately, in Captain Franks who is a bit overbearing and ominous towards the two men, and in John who starts having visual and auditory hallucinations of Zoey’s presence on the ship.

There are twists of course. Early on there is structural damage to the ship from some unknown source: space collision? structural integrity compromise?; we don’t know. This spurs Nash’s desperate need to turn back. But the slingshot is accomplished to fling the ship and her crew towards Titan. Still, Nash insists they need to turn back. So much so that the captain is concerned enough to bludgeon Nash with a gun (why the fuck is there a gun in space!?!) outside of John’s chamber as John is slipping into hibernation sleep. 

When John next wakes up, there is no blood, no tissue, and no Nash.

The biggest twists of all come towards the end. A trick of names, of perception, and a trick of the heart had me hoping for a happy ending that was not earned and never paid off.

During one part of the movie, John explains to Nash that his logic could never be proven. So to later is it revealed that the audience’s hope for our main character was not proven, was not earned, and was not fulfilled. Ultimately, John’s past choices end up being the ghosts that haunt him in the dark and unfortunately lead him to his doom.

Kasey Affleck, the star of this movie, is captivating, compelling, and had me enthralled throughout. You hope for him, even as you see him make stupid emotional mistake after stupid emotional mistake. And you wish, in the end, that he is able to somehow make in right.

But in the end, in the literal last seconds of the film, your hope is dashed, and if you are like me you find yourself audibly cursing at the movie screen because you are so angry and disappointed.

I suppose that is an endorsement to the effect Slingshot had on me; I cared enough for this stupid Grinch of a man, hoped he would grow a heart, but when he did it was too late and ultimately was his undoing.

Don’t be surprised if this movie is talked about during awards season. Or maybe that is just me hoping again for a ending that wasn’t earned.  

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