Orion

by Mike McGranaghan

Orion is a reminder that you don’t need to spend $100 million on a movie if you have a good idea. This low-budget science-fiction tale concocts an appealingly mysterious story that sucks you in. Special effects do factor in toward the end, but it’s the ideas at the core that are the true selling point.

Apollo (Drew Van Acker) is the only survivor of a disastrous mission in space. He awakens with amnesia, unable to recall what killed his entire crew. An interrogator named “Jim” (Andrew McCarthy) attempts to help him retrieve his memories. Jim is rather aggressive in his efforts to do that, though, leaving Apollo to question what his motives really are. Hanging in the balance is the fate of Apollo’s wife (Debby Ryan) who is being held captive by Jim. All of this builds to the revelation of a potential threat to Earth that forces both men to up the ante on the game of mental chess they’re playing with each other.

Nothing is quite what it seems in Orion. The screenplay by Anne Vithayathil continually adds new twists that make us reevaluate the dynamic between Apollo and Jim. Most interesting of all is how the movie subverts what we expect to happen at the end. The setup of a fatal mission that leaves most of a crew deceased is an old sci-fi staple, typically relying on some kind of vicious alien or deadly virus. In this case, the movie isn’t interested in jolts as much as it is on hope. Like Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, there’s an emphasis here on wondering what kind of relationship could be established between humans and extra-terrestrial lifeforms.

The film is dialogue-heavy and takes place on just a few basic sets. Director Jaco Bouwer (Gaia) nevertheless keeps the pace tight enough to avoid a feeling of stuffiness. He also introduces a few stylistic visual elements that provide a sense of intrigue. His decision to accomplish most of the effects in-camera goes a long way toward heightening that intrigue. Sci-fi pictures can be CGI-ed to death; this one maintains a vibe of reality throughout.

Van Acker is a little bland as Apollo, but that’s compensated for by McCarthy’s slyly sinister performance. The veteran actor plays Jim with the right note of ambiguity, so that we alternate between thinking he’s a very bad guy and wondering if he might not be okay after all. McCarthy has always exceled at playing slightly self-absorbed characters (i.e. in Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire). He nicely puts a darker spin on that sort of personality trait for Jim.

Orion builds to a finale that is tense and thoughtful at the same time. It isn’t technically the slickest, most polished movie you’ll ever see; it does, however, get a lot of mileage from its small budget, thanks to the care that visibly went into giving the story meaning. Seek out this little treasure.