Spaceman Review: Sad Adam Sandler Meets A Space Spider In This Somber Sci-Fi Saga
Drifting alone through space in a cramped craft, headed toward Jupiter and a strange anomaly known as the Chopra cloud, cosmonaut Jakub Prochazka (Adam Sandler) conducts a satellite interview with schoolchildren back on Earth. A little girl asks: "I read that you're the loneliest man in the world ... does it make you sad to be so far away?" Thus the mood is set for "Spaceman," Johan Renck's melancholy sci-fi story about loneliness, love, and a giant talking space spider. This is a strange film, and perhaps the strangest aspect of all is that it stars Adam Sandler.
Sandler is no stranger to drama at this point. Indeed, whenever the comic performer turns around and delivers a dramatic performance it's almost always met with universal praise. "Hey, that's right!" we all seem to proclaim in unison. "Adam Sandler is a pretty good actor when he wants to be!" But "Spaceman" has to be the most serious role Sandler has ever played; it casts him as indeed the loneliest man in the world, or perhaps the entire universe since he's technically not physically on the world throughout the course of the film.
Jakub, who hails from the Czech Republic, has been alone in space for nearly 200 days, and it's clear that time away from Earth has taken its toll on him — he looks haunted. Making matters worse: he hasn't heard from his pregnant wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan). As it turns out, Lenka did recently send a message to Jakub — to tell him she was leaving him. The powers that be, however, intercepted the message and are hesitant to pass it along, lest it send Jakub off the deep end.
And then a giant talking spider shows up.
The cuddliest space spider
The spider, which is about the size of a Great Dane, shows up out of nowhere, suddenly on board the spaceship. Jakub is understandably freaked out by the presence of this astro-arachnid, and things only get weirder when the spider begins talking with a calm, comforting voice (courtesy of Paul Dano). The spider, which Jakub eventually names Hanuš, is wise and ancient — seemingly as old as time itself. It can also probe inside Jakub's mind and make him relive his past memories. Is this creature even real? Or has Jakub finally snapped, imagining himself a companion? The film sort of plays around with this by having Jakub have a rather horrifying nightmare before Hanuš shows up in which spider legs start crawling out of his mouth.
Whether the spider is real or not doesn't ultimately matter. What matters is that the creature ends up helping Jakub reconnect with himself and see how he takes his beloved Lenka for granted. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Lenka must grapple with her decision and whether or not she wants to leave Jakub for good. Mulligan is a wonderful actor, but she's not given much to do here except look forlorn and thoughtful. On top of that, "Spaceman" loses momentum whenever it cuts away from the ship — a stronger film would've stayed entirely within space.
That's not to say everything set in space works. There's a dullness to the material, adapted from the novel "Spaceman of Bohemia" by Jaroslav Kalfař, that doesn't seem fitting for a movie that features a giant talking space spider. Still, Dano's soft voice helps turn Hanuš into one of the cuddliest spiders ever captured on screen. Even if you suffer from arachnophobia you might find yourself wanting to give this creature a hug.
The loneliest man in the world
"Spaceman" fails to grab our attention and, like Sandler's character, feels adrift. But as the journey towards the Chopra cloud — which Hanuš describes as "the beginning of everything" — continues, the conversations between spaceman and space spider grow warm, thoughtful, and even charming. On top of that, the spider develops a taste for human snacks (that is, snacks made by, not of humans) that's cute and relatable (Hanuš ends up loving Nutella, and who can blame him? That stuff is great).
Sandler is the real draw here, though. Again, we've seen him do dramatic work before, but this is arguably one of his toughest performances — it's a very internal character, and the usual Sandler yelling outburst never presents itself. Instead, the actor takes on the challenge of playing someone so depressed and lonely that his emotions are almost palpable. Sandler has never looked so sad.
I wouldn't go so far as to call this one of his best performances, but it's certainly one of his most interesting. We may have a hard time believing Sandler is from the Czech Republic (he wisely doesn't try to do an accent), but we fully believe in the character's sadness. We look at him up on the screen, drifting through space, and believe that he really just might be the loneliest man in the world.
/Film Rating: 5.5 out of 10