‘Slingshot’ is a surreal sci-fi head trip that questions its own reality (review)

Warning: Mild Spoilers Ahead!

Mind-bending cinematic thrillers set in the cold uncaring vacuum of outer space have been a solid Hollywood staple for years, perhaps most evident in director Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” and its existential posturing during an exploratory mission to the Jupiter system.

And perhaps not by accident, Odyssey 1 is also the name of the spaceship featured in director Mikael Håfström’s (“The Rite,” “1408”) newly released sci-fi feature, “Slingshot,” where a trio of astronauts bound for the Saturnian moon of Titan experiences uncanny events when one of its crew begins hallucinating due to hibernation drugs that ease the rigors of a 1.5-billion-mile expedition.

Bleecker Street’s contemplative film, shot mainly in and around Budapest, Hungary, is a dizzying descent into the quagmire of a man’s madness as he deals with isolation, paranoia, and anxiety. Grappling with the crumbling walls of sanity, he tries to maintain lucidity as they close in on a gravity-assist course correction using Jupiter. Audiences will be left guessing as to what constitutes reality until “Slingshot’s” very last scene, which will be debated long after the final credits roll.

The Academy Award-winning Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”) stars as John, one of the three intrepid astronauts who has left his romantic partner Zoe (Emily Beecham) back on Earth while he soars around the solar system on a multi-year mission. His recurring dreams flash back to their first encounters and budding romance, but perspectives shift as the movie progresses and John starts imagining things inside the starship that might or might not be completely real.

Joining Affleck is the always-magnetic Laurence Fishburne, who seems to have a knack for being aboard doomed spacecraft as seen in films like “Event Horizon,” “The Matrix,” and “Passengers.” Here Fishburne plays Captain Franks, a commanding leader who tries to keep the crew settled during periods of hibernation until they complete their whip-like maneuver around the gas giant that will fling them towards Saturn’s major moon Titan to hunt for methane gas.

Rounding out the main cast is “The Boys'” Tomer Capone who plays the nervous co-pilot named Nash. Their long haul trip gets a bit bumpy after the spacecraft sustains damage and they must scramble to repair the structural injuries. Heated debates break out over the safety of their “slingshot” maneuver considering the Odyssey 1’s troublesome state and violence soon erupts.

If there are any semi-spoilery clues as to what’s going on aboard the craft, a great place to start might be the Sam Rockwell-led movie “Moon,” (arguably one of the best sci-fi movies of all time) as one of the screenwriters, Nathan Parker, also penned that cult film. He and fellow “Slingshot” scribe R. Scott Adams (“Donner Pass”) have crafted a low-budget science fiction gem that could possibly act as a David Mamet-like stage play in that the movie is deeply character based and sticks with three players for the majority of its run.

“Slingshot” also shares similar themes with Håfström’s unnerving 2007 horror flick, “1408,” where a renowned author of ghostly travel books spends a traumatic night in a haunted hotel room and slowly loses his sanity. This time the accomplished director swaps out the Dolphin Hotel’s paranormal accommodations in New York City for a cramped spaceship on its way to Titan and lets the claustrophobia and wavering psychosis work its disorienting magic.

Cinematographer Pär M. Ekberg (“Polar”) and ace production designer Barry Chusid (“2012,” “Serenity,” “The Day After Tomorrow”) both combine to give “Slingshot” a sparse visual style in a white antiseptic environment where nothing can be trusted and points-of-view vacillate like the shuddering ship.

It’s an engaging effort by Håfström that might not break into an abundance of fresh territory in the popular genre, but the committed cast and narrative trickery provide just enough entertainment to indulge in its mysterious labyrinth of sci-fi madness.

As a summer addition to your list of escapist releases, “Slingshot” fulfills its mission.

“Slingshot” launched into theaters on Aug. 30.