Well, hush my mouth and call me Ishmael. It's Moby Dick in outer space. Seriously. It's Moby Dick in outer space. And, wow, the "reimagining" just doesn't work.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of BEYOND WHITE SPACE is how the sum total of the movie is so much less than the sum of its parts. The sets are good, the outer space CGI is at least adequate to purpose and a bit better, the monsters are new and so on. General production values are quite high. A lot of the acting is subpar but there's a few namebrand actors that acquit themselves satisfactorily. Holt McCallany (the Capt. Ahab of BEYOND WHITE SPACE), as an example is definitely a well-established actor with a collection of credits as long as your arm.
But BEYOND WHITE SPACE is just a poorly transplanted story wrapped in pretty packaging. It's attempted parallels to MOBY DICK are just cringe worthy. There's space ambergris (I kid you not...). There's "white space" equals "white whale". Instead of losing a leg and becoming obsessed with revenge, our Capt. Ahab stand in loses a father and becomes obsessed with revenge. We have a space "whale" that swims around in space instead of water; but it still undulates its body as if it was swimming in water because... I have no idea.
We have space pirates instead of Malayan pirates. The Pequod stand-in spaceship gets destroyed in the end. We have one lone survivor female taking the place of Ishmael as the sole survivor. And the tiresome list just goes on and on. The tale of obsession to ruin worked on the ocean with a whale and a whaling ship; not so much in outer space with a spaceship.
Oh, sure, there were a few additions to make it more science-fiction-y. We have space parasites and giant space crabs (or something) and a mystical "white space" that magically acts as a cure-all for whatever ails you, but this tacked on stuff does not save the picture but rather pushes its envelope of cringey mess out even further.
If you're starving for some science-fiction then BEYOND WHITE SPACE is probably "okay" to watch simply because its production values are so high. But I would recommend watching it with a ginger ale just to keep the contents of your stomach in your stomach.
Beyond White Space
2018
Action / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Beyond White Space
2018
Action / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Plot summary
When a deep space fishing vessel is robbed by a gang of pirates, the Captain makes a daring decision to go after a rare and nearly extinct species. His obsession propels them further into space as the crew spins toward mutiny and betrayal.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
May 23, 2019 at 11:38 PM
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Poor Ishmael.
Mediocre but could have been worse
It is the 22nd Century. The USS Essex is travelling in the furthest reaches of the known Universe when it encounters a gigantic creature. It is then boarded by pirates who take their cargo and most of their supplies. The crew decide to capture the creature to make up for their loss of cargo.
I had low expectations for this movie. From the cast and crew you can tell it is very likely to be B-grade. The only known face among them all is Holt McCallany, of Mindhunter fame. Yet the movie isn't that bad.
Well, it's still not good, just not as bad as it could have been. Plot is basic but doesn't go off in too many detours. Direction isn't great but is functional. Characters are stereotypical but don't get cartoonish. Dialogue manages to avoid being cringeworthy. Some performances are pretty lame but most are okay.
Overall, not great but better than expected.
It's not that bad actually
It keeps your attention until the very end, has decent effects, the characters are a bit predictable, other than the more famous actors who actually did a good job. The movie does end with few questions unanswered, but it doesn't quite leave you with that bad taste in your mouth. You won't see anything new here, but compared to a lot of recent movies, this one is enjoyable. No one paid the bots to advertise so the crew behind this film must be feeling confident and that is really refreshing.