Blake Laurita
Staff Writer
“The Mars Generation” follows a group of young men and women attending a Space Camp as they go through a series of exercises and projects, all sharing a burning desire to explore the uninhabited landscape of Mars.
“The Mars Generation” features insightful interviews with some of the most well versed individuals in the field of space exploration and offers an optimistic examination of the future of space travel. The film is also complemented well by outstanding cinematography, however it is plagued by pacing that is counterproductive to the flow of the film.
The film was directed by Michael Barnett and stars Bob Behnken and Alayna Bidlack. The film features a slew of scientifically gifted teenagers representative of the future generation of space explorers.
“The Mars Generation” follows a group of highly skilled optimic teens in a documentary style of filming enrolled in an extremely selective space program. The film also examines the shift in emphasis within the field of space exploration from government-funded agencies to commercially funded ones, such as SpaceX.
Photos: The film offers an insightful speculation on the future of space travel.
A notable aspect of the film was the inclusion of informative interviews featured in the documentary. The well placed sequences offer support to back up the claims made in the film, making it feel scientifically reliable. The interviews offer unique perspectives from astrophysicists Neil deGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku.
At the film’s core, its majority follows a familiar trajectory, recounting the Apollo program and the missed opportunity immediately thereafter to move on to Mars, setting back the advance of the space frontier by decades. This portion of the documentary provides the audience with a vital and informative foundation on which the rest of the film is edified.
Video: The film stars teenage space enthusiasts attending a space camp and was released May 5, 2017. The trailer contains a snippet of some of the film’s most intense moments.
The brilliant cinematography throughout the duration of the documentary sets it apart from similar documentaries of this trope . The mastery of cinematography displayed is vital to the film, adding immense production value to the film. The intelligent filming shone through when it would seamlessly transition from an interview to a clip about the history of space.
“The Mars Generation” has a unique group of individuals, all with differing interests and personalities, but all share a love for extraterrestrial exploration. The excitement for the project that is shared by the kids is apparent, keeping the audience watching even throughout the dull parts of the film.
Visit Rotten Tomatoes for more reviews of the movie.
The film’s poor pacing provided for the documentary’s most unfortunate downfall. Consequently, the film features an array of dense and cluttered portions, followed by boring and dry portions of the film that lack substance.
“The Mars Generation” is an eye opening documentary that provides an insightful take on the future of space travel through pragmatic interviews, an interesting plot, intelligent cinematography and an energetic cast, holding a single yet critical flaw of counterproductive pacing.
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“The Mars Generation,” released January 20, can be watched on many streaming services such as Netflix .
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