SummaryCaptain William D. Stanaforth (Mark Strong) is on a one-way solo mission, taking humanity’s first steps toward colonizing Mars. Although the entire world is watching him, he is completely alone in a dark and distant sea of stars. Stanaforth rockets bravely through space facing insurmountable odds, but as the journey takes a toll on his life-susta... Read More
Directed By:Mark Elijah Rosenberg
Written By:Mark Elijah Rosenberg
Approaching the Unknown
Metascore
Mixed or Average
53
User score
Generally Unfavorable
3.0
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
31% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
54% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
15% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Jun 1, 2016
90
Approaching the Unknown is the best science fiction movie since Gravity, and certainly the most melancholy since Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 Solaris.
Jun 1, 2016
67
Credit Rosenberg for keeping things ambiguous because it does make the film more interesting. Without this lingering sense of potential artifice, Approaching the Unknown becomes a slow-moving descent into acceptance — not quite a riveting plot with the suspenseful intrigue a descent into madness brings.
User score
Generally Unfavorable
5% Positive
1 Rating
1 Rating
38% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
57% Negative
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
Oct 29, 2016
5
More of a study of a man in isolation and what's going through his mind. The story of his flying to Mars to begin colonization is murky at best. Why have this expensive spaceship and send one person? Why is there a second spaceship following him? What's he going to do once he gets there? Unsatisfying; a good premise to start the movie but it doesn't go anywhere after that.
May 19, 2017
4
Strong performance by Mark Strong. Some points were slow though. Honestly there isn't that much there for a movie. It isn't great but it was enjoyable at points.
Jun 2, 2016
60
If Approaching the Unknown isn’t entirely satisfying, Mr. Strong reaches high with his portrayal of the unraveling of a man who believes survival is a matter of engineering.
Jun 8, 2016
50
Approaching the Unknown would be more of a solid premise if it were not touching down so close to last year's "The Martian," with its similar themes, bigger effects budget and superior script.
May 16, 2016
50
If you want another lesson about why we should be going to Mars and what we’ll encounter and maybe find out about ourselves, “Unknown” will do until we have an actual liftoff.
Jun 4, 2016
40
Sluggishly paced and featuring lengthy voice-over narration by Strong in which his character ponders his role in the universe like a graduate philosophy student, the film never achieves liftoff.
May 30, 2016
38
The film fails to lay down the character foundation that might have elevated the third-act histrionics.
Jun 11, 2016
3
Very disappointing. The plot is very hopeless and depressing because any problem that comes by he doesn't really fix very well and just sits there not doing much. Most of the movie is made up of pointless scenes that don't advance the plot and are very boring. The guy also makes lots of bad desicions. I don't recommend this movie.
Jun 11, 2016
1
Just awful. They send a mentally unfit man into space on a one way ticket to mars. Things break and he fails to fix and report them. Probably the worst movie I've seen in the last couple of years
Jun 5, 2016
1
Don't waste you're time or money on this awful pointless sorry ass movie that tricks you thinking it will be as good as the martian. From the beginning to end of the movie nothing really happens until he finally reaches mars than 3 minutes later roll credits.
Jul 25, 2019
0
Like watching paint dry, except not as interesting.
Thoroughly AWEFUL waste of time.
Jun 11, 2016
0
Probably the worst space movie I have ever sit through. Who wrote this? An 8 year old? I could have lived withe the cheesy effects, if they had only gotten the science right. You always have multiple backup systems in space. He had enough water to stand leisurely under a shower, but no backup water? What about recycling water from urine? Two words: Orbital Mechanics. You cannot stop a spacecraft halfway to its target and start it up again. Their is not enough fuel. If they had to abort the mission, he still would of had to go all the way to Mars, orbit it and come home. The inside of his ship was about twice as big as the outside. The spacesuit at the end looked like a dollar store Halloween costume with oven mitts.
