I don’t know if South Korea has made a science fiction blockbuster like Space Sweepers before, but it’s the first time I’ve personally encountered such kind of South Korean production. Well, Snowpiercerwas technically a South Korean production, but it didn’t really feel “South Korean” since it has a mostly Hollywood cast. On the other hand, although it has non-Korean supporting characters, Space Sweepers are headlined by Korean actors playing Korean characters. Thus, it feels like a legit South Korean production, and is the first of its kind that I’ve seen.
The story is set in 2092, in which Earth has been polluted and damaged to the point of no return, and a megacorporation called UTS has basically taken over to govern and regulate humanity. Under the leadership of its founder and CEO, James Sullivan (Richard Armitage, Castlevania and The Hobbit), UTS has made a space habitat located above the Earth’s atmosphere, and is working towards making Mars habitable. However, only UTS citizens – a chosen few picked because they possess skills, talents, intelligence, or wealth that are deemed beneficial to mankind and UTS – are allowed to live in the space habitat, and the only ones who will be presumably taken to a terraformed Mars.
Meanwhile, non-citizens are left to fend for themselves on the dying surface of the Earth or in the cramped, rundown working stations operating in orbit. Struggling to get by, many of them work as “space sweepers” – individuals who collect space junk that are dangerously floating around orbit, which they afterward sell to UTS.
The plot revolves around a crew of space sweepers in the spaceship Victory – pilot Kim Tae-ho (Song Jong-ki, Descendants of the Sun), the former commander of UTS’s Space Guards who lost his citizenship after harboring and adopting a non-citizen baby; mechanic Tiger Park (Jin Seon-kyu), a former drug kingpin who escaped from prison; harpooner Bubs (Yoo Hae-hin, Confidential Assignment), a former military robot who is saving up money to get skin grafting; and Captain Jang (Kim Tae-ri, The Handmaiden), a former UTS Special Forces Squad officer and former space pirate. Their principles – or lack thereof – are challenged when they cross paths with a fugitive young girl named Dorothy/Kang Kot-nim (Park Ye-rin), who is either a deadly terrorist superweapon or the key to saving Earth.
Space Sweepers doesn’t have the smartest or most original sci-fi plot there is, but it competently pushes the right buttons to evoke a properly emotional, immersive, and stimulating space opera experience. I genuinely had a blast watching it. I personally found it emitting the same kind of entertainment value as the second-hand science fiction paperbacks that I’ve been fond of consuming (especially back in college).
On top of that, the CGI and the set pieces are actually spectacular. Its budget isn’t really that big (about just half of the budget of Snowpiercer). Thus, it’s quite impressive that it manages to bring that much quality to its visuals and aesthetics. As a result, its world feels lived in, and its action sequences incite legit excitement.
But what I think is the biggest reason why Space Sweepers is a lot of fun is its delightful main characters – the crew of Victory. They are basically the stereotypical space crew. A band of misfits. Constantly broke. Gritty, cynical, and greedy rogues. But have hearts of gold deep inside. Beneath a kooky and bungling personality, each one is actually a badass in his or her own right, and harbors a dark past. They banter, argue, get on each other’s nerves, and constantly butt heads. But when it gets down to business, they work like a well-oiled machine to get the job done, and at the end of the day, they actually care for each other. It’s the cliché ensemble dynamic that we’ve seen already from Fireflyto Cowboy Bebop to Guardians of the Galaxy. But the thing with this trope is that when it’s done well – which Space Sweepers does – it’s extremely winsome and appealing regardless of how hackneyed it is. And when the adorable Kot-nim is put in the mix to stir up the pot, it only gets more fun and endearing.
To sum it up, I really love Space Sweepers. I don’t care if it isn’t a game-changing science fiction standout. For what it is, a pulpy space opera, it’s utterly enjoyable. It’s my kind of jam.
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