This intriguing sci-fi thriller is a throwback to the kind of cerebral teleshows and low-budget movies that flourished in the 1960s: ripe with bleak lighting and dystopian pessimism, but with barely enough money in the budget to pay for more than two sets. Think On the Beach from 1959, or Seconds from 1966 – but then lower your expectations because it’s nowhere in their league. But it’s not bad, and the topic is timely.
The time is several decades in the future, and humanity has accepted that we’ve messed up the planet beyond repair. The only answer is to start colonies off-world, starting with the moon. An AI called Jay helps sow these seeds for the future, running simulations to calculate risks and decisions. Everything is explained in a crawl and with faux news footage. The drama begins properly at a country house that looks like something out of Grand Designs; it’s home to Jay creator Sam (Kemi-Bo Jacobs) and astronaut Anderson (Simon Merrells, one of those actors you’re sure you’ve seen before even if you can’t quite place him). He is going to be the head of the next important mission to the moon, which launches tomorrow. The couple’s last night together is interrupted by the arrival of Sam’s employee Charlie (Hermione Corfield), who worries that Jay’s simulations suggest not a trip of several days, but one to Jupiter’s moon Europa , and from there the titular million-day journey to Alpha Centauri. Faster than you can sing “Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer Do,” the trio begins to suspect Jay has gone rogue and has her own agenda.
Aside from some moonlit wanderings outside looking for a missing dog, and a flashback to a deep space accident rendered with visual effects, everything takes place inside Sam and Anderson’s house. That minimalism is good, making an interesting contrast to the vast distances and time spans conjured up by the dialogue. But a little more fluidity and flair in the script would have been welcome, cleaning up the clunky, exposition-heavy lumpiness of it all.
