andy-blunt Small budget, somewhat amateur-feeling film, the visuals for which I felt fluctuated between being OK, and at other times, sub-TV standard.Sadly I felt the plot was also a bit dull and uneventful throughout. Factor in also that the dialogue was unmemorable, and the characters and performances nothing special too... and you get the idea. For me this was nowhere near the level set by "Moon", (itself only quite good), never mind anywhere near the greats; e.g. 2001 or Interstellar.In fairness the last 1-2 minutes was not bad. That's the only real positive I can offer.In summary I'm sure the makers had good intentions, but it shows how difficult sci-fi is to produce without a great core idea, large financial backing to realise your concepts, and perhaps a creative genius in charge of direction and production. Sorry!

Alex A very respectable sci-fi. It didn't go over the top or try too hard. Was nicely suspenseful with that sort of stranded, creepy vibe. Thankfully didn't turn into an alien- monster film. Also Copely did a better American accent than many Americans - he's a seriously underrated actor.

LawLess39 What is this movie about? The CG wasn't bad ... just wasted on this movie(?). Nothing stands out ... bunch of people ... in a confined space ... very little technology ... in fact it all seemed a little primitive. No touch screens or screen swiping? Whats with the sniveling woman talking through the movie/mission? No drones ... robots ... just jump into a suit and start walking? She finds the only thin ice on a planet that has ice mile thick ... okay.Way to many close up shots. Then there are the pixelating cam's, that were cutting in and out. Split screens ... blah ... blah ... blah.There is no clear leadership or direction. All that 'money' for what? All the way to Europa ... for what ... lose the ship ... everyone dies ... for what? A luminescent octopus? Is this hollyweeds vision of the future? we all look alike, act a like ... like a bunch of school girls? This is, yet, another hour and a half of my life I'll never get back! This isn't even worth watching for free.

vvp_14 This movie will certainly be on my top sci-fi list. I was amazed how good this film turned out to be. Unlike some films that pretend to be big and ambitious in the beginning and turn out to be disastrous and disappointing in the end, this one is the complete opposite. At the start one can hardly call it a spectacle. It starts off with a tiny screen of some on-board video and you think it's some home made video that will bore your brains and you'll wish you've never seen it.The entire film is shot by wide-angle on-board fixed cameras in a documentary style, interlaced with interviews of mission controllers filling up on the story and a member of the crew talking on camera during the mission. Cameras keeps switching from one to the next showing distorted faces. Mmmm. Irritating. If you have seen How To Irritate People by Monty Python this is it. And since this is low budget the creators used archive footage of US Atlas launch vehicle which cost nothing. The shots from external cameras on the ship, however, show this is all new really well made CGI for the film.It definitely is a sci-fi sister of the horror movie The Blair Witch Project when it comes to the shooting style, and, in fact, the plot. I would consider it probing into something new in cinematography, at least as far as sci-fi goes. But if you can take this docudrama style you'll be just fine.In this an hour and a half long movie there's not much action in the first 20 minutes - a routine talk of a six strong international crew and interviews with flight controllers. These give us valuable information about the goal of the mission and Europa itself, which is an ice world and it is believed that under the thick ice crust some water and even oceans may exist, so the mission is to take ice samples and drill through the ice in the hope to find water and... life. The film is scientifically and technically quite accurate which makes it a truly classic science fiction, reminding of the good old days of the 2001: Space Odyssey.Then it starts getting better. They add footage taken by astronauts with a hand-held cameras. They show the real weightlessness in the ship and it looks like they did a really fine job building a very nice and a realistic spacecraft with all the equipment and spacesuits, which are very well made. The space, the planets are also very realistic and true to life.By now I'm curious if this is not what I expected. I'm also getting used to the documentary style. Without revealing too much let's just say the idea is that this footage reaches Earth and here we are - watching what's happening.* SPOILERS *The ship arrives at Jupiter's orbit, then they transfer to Europa's orbit and they finally land on Europa. They start drilling the ice and then notice something is going on outside the ship. They make their first stunning discoveries under the ice with first tense scenes. At this point the narration takes us back in time when the ship was still on the way to Jupiter and there is an EVA going on to repair some modules damaged in a sun storm. A horrible accident happens outside and there is a brilliantly made, very tense and gripping action scenes. By now this movie got my full attention.Now we are back on Europa. The ship actually landed a bit off target and one of the crew gets out of the ship to get samples after a hard debate if an EVA was necessary (radiation levels on Europa are high and dangerous due to closeness to Jupiter). Then events start to unravel in an unexpected direction and from this point on you are on a thrilling and gripping roller-coaster ride right to the end of the film with the astronauts ready to sacrifice their lives to finding life in our Solar system.* ENS OF SPOILERS *This is a well-written and a very well directed movie with a brilliant story. I would particularly mention the excellent actor's play. I've never seen any of them before and it was yet another pleasant surprise about it. Points off for camera-work with wide-angle shots and some distorted faces and archive footage of the launch for what is otherwise a wonderful feature film. Highly recommended.