Despite my love for Star Wars and Marvel movies like the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, I am not much of a science fiction fan.  Indeed, while thinking of how to contextualize the previous statement, I was wracking my brain trying to come up with other examples from that genre that I enjoy.  I am sure they exist, but they are not coming to mind, which speaks volumes as to my distaste for such films.  By the way, this has nothing to do with my Catholic faith.  There is a stereotype that Christians eschew these stories because they suggest that God does not exist.  The Church does not discourage science, for the umpteenth time.  My problem with science fiction, and fantasy by extension, is that the stories are hit or miss.  I will give them a shot, but sometimes they are so farfetched that they break my brain at some point.  Today’s movie, Space Sweepers (2021), rides the line between bonkers and fun, and for the most part, it works.

There is not much of a ride at the beginning of Space Sweepers, who are a group of scavengers who operate above Earth orbit.  The pilot of one of the ships involved in this trade, Kim Tae-ho (Song Joong-ki), is on the rapidly dying Earth trying to find information about his lost daughter, Kim Su-ni (Oh Ji-yul).  Tae-Ho’s backstory is handled later, but I might as well tell you about it now.  He had once been a soldier for the United Terrestrial States (UTS), the corporation that has been moving people off the overly polluted Earth, at least the ones that can afford to do so.  During a raid on a group of people supposedly living some place illegally, Tae-Ho rescues Su-ni as an infant and adopts her as his daughter.  After doing this, he can no longer fight as ordered, and he is kicked out of the military.  He is stripped of all status, and the two take up a rootless existence.  As he is gambling for funds, she wanders off to try to find something to eat.  It is at this moment that space debris collides with the station, and the two are separated.  From there, he takes up with the crew of the Victory, headed by Captain Jang Hyun-sook (Kim Tae-ri).  She is a former special forces operative with a special hatred for UTS chief executive officer (CEO) and 150-year-old man, James Sullivan (Richard Armitage).  We will get to him in a moment.  Their engineer is a former drug lord named “Tiger” Park Kyung-soo (Jin Seon-kyu), who also likes axes because why not?  Finally, there is their robot, who identifies as a female but with a deep voice, named Bubs (voiced by Yoo Hae-jin).  Bubs used to be in the armed forces as well.  Once Tae-ho returns from his mission and they argue about the money he used to undertake it, it is time to see them do what the title says they do.  Such is their skill that they often beat out competing scavengers for their targets.  From there, they go to collect their fees, but continue to be in debt for everything else they need to keep operating.  While in port, like anyone else they see news reports of a mysterious little girl named Dorothy (Park Ye-rin), who is said to be an android carrying a hydrogen bomb.  That is of little concern at the moment as they need to continue making money.  Thus, it is back to space where they eventually find an abandoned shuttle.  In looking through it, they uncover a female child named Kang Kot-nim.  Once she is aboard the Victory, they soon figure out that she is the Dorothy for whom the authorities are looking.  There is a period of shock before Tae-ho comes up with the idea of trading the girl for a reward.  Using the number on Kot-nim’s phone, they are able to contact Kang Hyeon-u (Kim Mu-yeol), Kot-nim’s scientist father.  He offers $2 million for her return, and they arrange a place for the exchange.  Before this can happen, UTS soldiers break up the deal.  They have been sent by James to retrieve Dorothy.  The UTS CEO wants the girl because she has the ability to disrupt his plans.  Viewing most of humanity as evil, he has arranged for UTS citizens to populate Mars, which has been terraformed using his special nanobot technology.  These same nanobots have been implanted in Kot-nim, giving her special abilities.  James wants her dead, which can only be achieved by melting the nanobots with a hydrogen bomb.  Despite trying to resist Kot-nim’s charms, the crew of the Victory all become attached to her in some degree.  Thus, following their initial escape from UTS forces, they are willing to risk their lives for her when she is recaptured.  This last raid comes as they are about to hand her over to her father, who is a part of a group of environmentalists known as the Black Foxes.  UTS calls them a terrorist group because they want to see Earth restored, which Kot-nim can accomplish.  James personally leads the attack, paying off Tae-ho with the money he needs to find Su-ni.  Instead, he joins the others in their rescue mission, taking Kot-nim from the middle of the junk satellite that James wants to crash into the planet, killing billions.  They are able to get her away from the bomb at the center of the orbiter with some help from the other scavengers.  Once again, James intervenes personally, but it turns out to have been a trap to lure him away from Kot-nim and destroy the CEO.  Kot-nim is safe with their compatriots, but she uses other nanobots to protect the crew from the blast.  As such, they are brought back safely to a hero’s welcome and eventually return to the title trade.

You would think a title like Space Sweepers would be relatively straight forward, but it is about more than just collecting junk in the void.  In point of fact, I did not understand some of what was going on, which almost made me not enjoy it.  Yet, there are moments in it that captured this Catholic’s heart, such as when we see Su-ni begging for food.  God touches me when I see people in need, especially when they are children.  How many of us at some point in our lives have looked upon a panhandler and assumed that by giving that person money, they will simply use it to buy alcohol and/or drugs, or like Tae-ho, gamble?  God asks us to see such situations differently.  Even if that person does not do with our assistance as we would hope they would, how is does that make our charity wrong?  Instead, think of it as an opportunity to pray for their conversion.  Alternatively, assuming they use it for good, think of the difference for the better you have made in someone’s life.  It is a dilemma with which Tae-ho is presented when James gives him the millions.  He can pursue selfish dreams, or he could save a little girl and potentially the lives of billions.  Therein lies another Catholic position.  The Faith is not in the business of sacrificing one life for the sake of many, although that is what Jesus did.  However, with Our Savior, His Passion was so that humanity might one day join Him in eternity.  It was also of His choosing.  Someone as young as Kot-nim is not given a choice, as well as the people on Earth James is about to destroy for the sake of his Martian utopia.  The difference is in the value of life.  One individual, no matter the nanobot abilities, is just as important as any number of others.  God loves us all equally.

All things being equal, I am willing to recommend Space Sweepers.  I am still unsure as to whether Su-ni is alive, or why James sometimes turns darker skinned and veiny.  Still, there is enough here to make it a fun adventure.