I was hoping for some sci-fi fun here and man was this movie a drag. Adam Sandler moping about how he's a bad husband for following his lifelong career towards the razors edge of discovery instead of suddenly dropping everything and staying home with his pregnant wife. It's indistinct just how much she knew going into their relationship about his career path, likely intentional because a little thought makes it extremely unlikely that she'd be in any position to object by the time a mission like that is undertaken.
The movie is filled with little nitpicks like that, which will drive an actual sci-fi fan crazy. This isn't real sci-fi, it's nonsense. Do they introduce an alien? Sure. Does it's being an alien matter in any way? No, it might as well have been a ghost. In fact, it could be interpreted that it was a hallucination all along when you think about it. Did his being in space matter in any way? No, it could have been any job that caused the husband to be away instead of at home with his wife. Soldier, oil rig worker, some sort of arctic scientist, etc. All of the "sci-fi" elements were nonsensical and only served to push the plot in the direction the writer wanted, they didn't make any real sense.
This felt like a bad version of Project Hail Mary, if you thought this had potential but failed on an intellectual level I recommend that book.
The movie is filled with little nitpicks like that, which will drive an actual sci-fi fan crazy. This isn't real sci-fi, it's nonsense. Do they introduce an alien? Sure. Does it's being an alien matter in any way? No, it might as well have been a ghost. In fact, it could be interpreted that it was a hallucination all along when you think about it. Did his being in space matter in any way? No, it could have been any job that caused the husband to be away instead of at home with his wife. Soldier, oil rig worker, some sort of arctic scientist, etc. All of the "sci-fi" elements were nonsensical and only served to push the plot in the direction the writer wanted, they didn't make any real sense.
This felt like a bad version of Project Hail Mary, if you thought this had potential but failed on an intellectual level I recommend that book.