Fresh Sci-Fi Thriller Guaranteed The Most Terrifying Odyssey Of All Time
Written by Robert Scucci | Published
I have a very hard time getting into sci-fi thrillers that involve space isolation because Alien you have set the bar so high for me that almost everything else pales in comparison. in 2011 Apollo 18 ridiculously bad, even in 2013 Last Days on Mars it should be read by filmmakers as a good example of how not to make a film. Every now and then, a few gems come in, like in 2021 Oxygen (it’s a French movie, so you’ll need dubs or subtitles), and 2013 Europa reportwhich is what I’m here to talk about today.
However Europa report it only clocks in at 90 minutes, a deliberate slow burn that can feel twice that long. That may sound like a knock, but I mean it as a real compliment to how much tension a bottle story can remove from a limited situation. And there is no traditional opponent to contend with. Instead, we watch a group of workers slowly come to terms with the fact that they may never see home again when their work is done.
Six Astronauts in Search of Life
Europa report edited by Dr. Samantha Unger (Embeth Davidtz) as she describes what happened on the ship, while archive footage plays in an almost surreal way. We have a mission to search for extraterrestrial life on Jupiter’s moon Europa, we present to the crew. William Xu (Daniel Wu) commands the ship, piloted by Rosa Dasque (Anamaria Marinca). Daniel Luxembourg (Christian Camargo) serves as a science officer, working with marine biologist Katya Petrovna (Karolina Wydra). Rounding out the crew are junior and senior engineers James Corrigan (Sharlto Copley) and Andrei Blok (Michael Nyqvist).
Midway through the mission, sunlight shuts down their communications, leaving them unable to communicate with the machine controls. With no real option but to push forward, Blok and Corrigan head out into space to make amends, which leads to Corrigan meeting his end as he drifts out into space, alone and terrified. The remaining five crew members remained in nearby areas with no way back, spending the next 20 months making their way to their destination.
When they finally reach Europa, the crew begins drilling through the ice looking for any signs of underwater life. At this point, morale is at an all-time low. Blok begins to see movement outside the ship, and Petrovna goes off duty to investigate when the excavation does not produce promising samples. Through all the stress caused by isolation and emotional distress, the team remains focused on the mission, fully aware of what its discovery could mean to humanity. At the same time, they can’t help but wonder if what they found will ever return to Earth, or give their lives for free.
There Is No Real Opponent, And You Don’t Need One
What I find most compelling Europa report its complete lack of external friction except for the first solar storm. There is no looming monster or sudden disaster, just the ever-present threat of not being able to communicate or return home. Emotions naturally run high, doubts creep in, and professional boundaries begin to erode. Nevertheless, the team works together and remains committed to the mission, which is, in every way, bigger than any of them. When they finally come out, there is disagreement about how to proceed, but they decide to continue with the faint hope that communication can be restored and their findings returned to Dr. Unger.
Europa report it doesn’t need an opponent because everyone on board already has enough to worry about. The real tension comes from simply wondering if they will succeed. Nothing explosive or outrageous happens, but that lack of spectacle is exactly what makes the film so successful. It’s the kind of quiet, creeping discomfort that slowly gets under your skin and stays there.
Europa report currently streaming on Hulu.
