Space Sweepers (2021)

Streaming Services: Netflix
Movie Name/Year: Space Sweepers (2021)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Length: 136 minutes
Rating: TV-MA
Production/Distribution: Bidangil Pictures, Merry Christmas, Netflix
Director: Sung-hee Jo
Writer: Sung-hee Jo
Actors: Song Joong-Ki, Kim Tae-ri, Seon-kyu Jin, Hae-Jin Yoon, Richard Armitage, Ye-Rin Park, Mu-Yeol Kim, Ji-Yeol Oh, Hyang-gi Kim, Nas Brown, Kevin Dockry, Daniel Joey Albright, Dae-han Kim, John D. Michaels, Carla Fernanda Avilla Escobedo
 
Blurb from IMDb: Set in the year 2092 and follows the crew of a space junk collector ship called The Victory. When they discover a humanoid robot named Dorothy that's known to be a weapon of mass destruction, they get involved in a risky business deal.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
My heart hurts.
 
The ending of Space Sweepers just hit me like a tsunami. I ugly cried through the last 15-minutes. Every time I started to come out of it, something else happened.
 
This film was exactly as good as I thought it was going to be. It was flawlessly gorgeous with a rich universe. I can’t think of any other movie that has showcased as many languages as this one.
 

Due to the way the universe evolved in this dystopia, technology became a simple tool for translating speech, so people just spoke whatever they spoke. Netflix notes that Space Sweepers is in Korean, but I heard English, French, Russian, Spanish… and other languages, dialects, and accents. It may seem like such a simple, random thing for me to latch onto, but it felt like a fact that brought the world-building to a whole other level. It was a reinvention of the wheel where the dystopian sub-genre is concerned.
 
The plot was gripping, but a little complicated to unpack. There are some familiar tropes utilized, but it all seemed to represent something. It all had a specific purpose. There was the obvious statement on how “trustworthy” media is when it’s linked politically to someone. There was the corruption in world leaders, the question of morality in a caste-based society, sacrifice, and growth.
 

I did not feel time move as I watched. It turned from day to night while I was glued to the screen, but it still feels like no time has passed.
 
Aside from the depth, there was so much to enjoy on the surface. There were large-scale space battles and plenty of humor.
 

I will say that some of the comedy felt like it was right out of an anime, but I enjoy that. It worked well for me.
 
I’ve never seen, or heard of, anything else by writer/director Sung-hee Jo (Phantom Detective, A Werewolf Boy, End of Animal). I’m going to be actively seeking out the rest of his work. I was thrilled to find out this was a fully original story.
 
Space Sweepers was phenomenal. I will definitely be watching it again.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 67%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 81%
Metascore – 64/100
Metacritic User Score – 6.2/10
IMDB Score – 6.6/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 5/5
 
Movie Trailer: