Having never seen another human being other than her parents before, she persuades him to spend the night with her but he then has to go. She is now visited by another ship containing the engineer Alex. Due to an error, the ship’s oxygen supplies were depleted and her parents sacrificed themselves so she could continue on alone. She was brought on board as an infant and has spent the entire nineteen years of her life on the ship. Those after a cleverly written sci-fi thriller may be left disappointed as Orbiter 9 fails to back up its promising premise and clever plot twists with characters worth investing in.Helena is the sole person aboard the Orbit 9 space mission to the planet Celeste. The cinematography is solid throughout making this all the more frustrating to review as a good array of camera angles and clever use of audio combine to certainly make this an artistically sound film.

The plot twists come at the most inappropriate times, overshadowing important characterisation needed to become invested in the characters and their journeys. The pieces are here, somewhere, for a really well written, clever Spanish sci-fi flick but the execution is lacking at best. Orbiter 9 is a really disappointing film to watch. Whether this be the fault of the scriptwriters or even the way Orbiter 9 is edited, this sci-fi flick gives little reason for us to care or become invested in anyone on screen, devaluing the effectiveness of some of the important thematic messages at play here. Alex and Helena are barely given any time to flesh their characters out before they’re thrust into one another’s lives and begin falling for one another and when main antagonist Hugo ( Andrés Parra) shows up he’s barely given two lines or any real motivation before being forcedinto the villainous role he depicts. Where Orbiter 9 really slips up is with its characters. This awareness spills over to the cinematography which boasts an array of interesting camera shots and well lit sets. There’s a good use of silence during bites of dialogue and deep, dread-inducing instrumental tracks at appropriate moments throughout the film. It’s a shame too as Orbiter 9 is technically very well put together. Without giving too much away, Orbiter 9 loses a lot of momentum after this surprising reveal and never really recovers after, despite the well written ending. What follows is a film that picks up in pace and drops focus jumping from action, to thriller to elements of romance and back again with reckless abandon. As the two grow closer together, the plot changes thanks to one of Orbiter 9’s plot twists. The story begins with Helena ( Clara Lago), a young, isolated woman on board a spaceship who finds her life turned upside down when an engineer, Alex ( Álex González), boards and begins fixing the dwindling oxygen supply.

Unfortunately, Orbiter 9 suffers from a lack of purpose, lost in a myriad of wildly inconsistent ideas and an unfocused plot lacking well written characters and a consistent tone. This is certainly one that’s likely to divide opinion as some well written twists and thought provocative ideas are sure to resonate with a lot of people. Spanish sci-fi thriller Orbiter 9 has all the ingredients to be a really good, memorable film. Good Plot Twists Overshadowed By Poor Characterisation

Orbiter 9 2017