Space Sweepers
Directed by Jo Sung-hee
Produced by Yoon In-beom, Kim Soo-jin
Written by Yoon Seung-min, Yoo-kang Seo-ae, Jo Sung-hee
Starring
Song Joong-ki
Kim Tae-ri
Jin Seon-kyu
Yoo Hae-jin
Music by Kim Tae-seong
Song Joong-ki as Tae-ho – Former Commander of the Space Guards and the first ever UTS Genius.
Kim Tae-ri as Captain Jang – Former Special Forces Squad officer who later deserted her post to create her own pirate organization. She attempted to assassinate CEO James Sullivan in which her entire pirate crew were killed.
Jin Seon-kyu as Tiger Park – Former Drug King who escaped Earth after being arrested and sentenced to death.
Yoo Hae-jin as Robot Bubs – Former military robot trying to save up for her gender confirmation services
Richard Armitage as James Sullivan – The CEO of UTS.
Kim Mu-yeol as Kang Hyeon-u – Kang Kot-nim’s father and a scientist.
Park Ye-rin as Dorothy / Kang Kot-nim – First believed to be a robot, she is actually a human who was injected with nanobots by her father as a last resort to heal her.
Ayn Rand probably wouldn’t approve of the way capitalism is portrayed in Korean movies. Space Sweepers features a vicious and predatory tech trillionaire who is busily sucking the wealth and resources out of the entire Earth to support the unworldly luxury of his Martian Shangri-La. The featured characters are space debris garbage collectors who bust their asses and after digging sixteen tons, what do they get? Another day older and deeper in debt.
The economic aspects of the film are probably the most realistic, although the characters and sets carry their own gritty reality that helps elevate an otherwise ordinary effort at SF, complete with plot absurdities worthy of Star Wars or Star Trek franchises.
The main character is an incredibly cute little eight year old girl who everyone thinks is a hydrogen bomb. As everyone knows, hydrogen bombs can go pretty much anywhere they want and explode, something that causes endless sleepless nights at the Pentagon.
But then one day the kid cuts a fart and announces she has to go potty, and everyone realizes she isn’t a hydrogen bomb after all. But that leads to the next question: what IS this kid, and why are all the powers-that-be after her, especially the Big Bad fill-in for Steve Jobs?
The most interesting characters (and they’re all pretty interesting) is Robot Bub. I was going to describe Bub as “Bender in Space!” until my wife told me that was a pretty idiotic simile, since the original Bender was already in space, so I was just being redundant. So, I dunno…Bubs Bunny in space, maybe? The character is pretty snarky and has a lot of amazing abilities. Bub is saving up to get a gender.
The film has its flaws, obviously, but it is also one hell of an entertaining way to blow an hour or two. It’s just plain fun.
Now on Netflix.