If you’re looking for a mediocre science fiction movie with a European atmosphere, you’ve just found it! Orbiter 9 is a Spanish movie about a young woman aboard a huge spaceship on its way to Celeste, the promised planet. I think you already know the deal, we fucked up the Earth beyond recognition so now we must find a new home. Pretty standard-issue stuff you might say. However, Orbiter 9 has a couple of tricks up his sleeve. One of them it’s going to use fairly quickly but don’t worry, there’s more where that came from.
If you’re a regular Subversive Rabbit reader, then you know I just can’t help myself recommending science fiction movies. And while this isn’t the greatest movie out there, it’s certainly not the worst. 3.6 Roentgen to be precise. The production values are excellent and the movie looks and feels like its Hollywood counterparts. Clara Lago was excellent as Helena and while Alex Gonzales also did a good job, he’s too hot for a nerd who eats noodle soup all day.
Orbiter 9 has a bit of everything. We will get a bit of obligatory space escapism, romance, suspense, action, and a lot of twists. With a running time of just under ninety minutes, this is a bite-sized science fiction movie well worth your time. It poses a couple of interesting questions regarding technology and morality. Nothing revolutionary but still thought-provoking enough.
Welcome to the world of tomorrow! The humans have destroyed the Earth once again and their only hope is Celeste, an Earth-like world destined to become our new home. There’s only one problem, Celeste is decades away from Earth. This is where we meet Helena, the only passenger aboard the spaceship Orbiter 9 headed for humanity’s new home. However, when her oxygen supply starts malfunctioning she will receive a strange message from a rescue ship…
Now, the idea of generational spaceships is not new and there have been a lot of movies dealing with this subject. Voyagers and Passengers are the two most recent examples although I should probably add Chaos Walking to this mini-list as well. However, Orbiter 9 reminded me of one of my favorite science fiction movies of all time, Moon starring Sam Rockwell. So, if you’re looking for something to watch after this one, I highly recommend you check it out.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention another cool Spanish science fiction movie, Stranded. It follows a crew of a spaceship bound for Mars who run into trouble during their descent. Finally, I have to mention the Chinese fast-food restaurant scene that was a nice homage to Blade Runner. This is Hatem Khraiche’s directorial debut although he has written a lot of good movies like The Hidden Face and The Returned. So, I can’t wait to see his next movie and I do hope we will stay in the science fiction realm.
Director: Hatem Khraiche
Writer: Hatem Khraiche
Cast: Clara Lago, Álex González, Andrés Parra, Belén Rueda, Kristina Lilley, Sara Deray
Fun Facts: Orbiter 9 is actually a Spanish and Colombian coproduction. Parts of it were shot both in Bogota and Medellín.
Rating:
IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3469798/
