Voyagers (movie 2021) skip the trip

h​    It was meant to be a perfect community destined for a great purpose, the saviors of humanity, the shining beacon of hope. The multiracial melting pot, the best of the best the humankind had to offer. Until a lying, cheating, sexual harassment-leaning, dangerous demagogue gained power among them and used it to bring out the absolutely worst qualities in them under the guise of empowerment. Overriding their pre-established democracy, through his toxic rhetoric and his ugly actions and fabrications he threatened and actively tried to undo the very fabric of their carefully crafted society.
     Does that sound at all familiar?
     Now, wouldn’t it be awesome if a science fiction movie was clever enough to incorporate all that sociopolitical commentary into this plot? After all, science fiction is a traditionally great genre for social commentary.
      Alas, The Voyagers is nowhere near that clever of a movie. It isn’t even that good of a movie. It does feature a somewhat utopian or dystopian (depends on who you ask) society of teens on a spaceship, teens genetically engineered and bred specifically for this mission, which is meant to reach a first habitable planet discovered three generations from now.
       There’s only one adult supervising them, and he isn’t going to be around forever. The idea is that the kids are smart enough to govern themselves, breed and repeat the cycle until the planet is reached. The kids all drink a blue liquid designed to maintain them at a certain level of sexually-repressed docility and once they decide to stop drinking it, they become more…themselves. For some, just means horny. For others, it means something much darker. For one of them, it means dictatorial powers and homicidal tendencies.
       Now the kids are splitting up and in-fighting in the world of induced hysteria, where there may or may not be an alien monster out to get them. The kids must confront their very natures and decide what is and isn’t natural to them.
        It all sounds promising, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. From the shabby writing to the uneven pacing (with a very soggy middle), it just isn’t that exciting or even that good of a movie.
         The cast is led by that Texan Bart Simpson lookalike Tye Sheridan who is apparently and inexplicably a hot commodity. He's a fine character actor, especially for Southern set/themed movies, not necessarily a leading man. His love interest is played by the baby Depp, looking like a baby doll of impossibly tiny proportions. And the antagonist is played by some kid I’ve never heard of. The rest doesn’t really matter, except that Bran Stark is there, looking tall out of the wheelchair and given almost no lines at all. Should have just stayed in Westeros, really.
          Also, a crucial detail...if everyone starts breeding early, that means three generations will turn into four generations, meaning a terrible strain on supply and logistics. Those libidos were dampened for a reason, people. Think of the mission.
         The movie is mildly entertaining at best, but mostly just a bunch of wasted potential. It crapped out at the box office accordingly. Not a voyage worth undertaking, dear readers.