Anna Kendrick stars in the new sci-fi film Stowaway as Zoe Levenson, a medical doctor
who is part of a manned mission to Mars designed to study and prepare the red planet for eventual
human habitation.
"We are taking the first steps to being able to call Mars a second home."
After a mostly successful launch, Zoe and her fellow astronauts are ready and eager
to get to work.
But it takes less than a day for things to go spectacularly awry once they discover an
unintentional stowaway.
The unconscious Michael Adams is a launch support engineer who's completely untrained
for this mission, although he does his best to make himself useful once it's clear that
he's not getting back to Earth anytime soon.
Unfortunately, he's also accidentally destroyed the ship's life support systems, leaving the
crew without enough resources to support four people for the full journey.
What follows is a heart-pounding race to find a solution, fraught with both peril and ethical
conundrums.
"Look, Commander, this research is years of my life.
We both know how important it is.
Are we sure we want to throw it all away while we still have a chance to fix the CDRA?"
"There is no chance, David.
It's gone."
Before all of the tension sets in, though, there's one scene that really showcases the
innate brightness of Kendrick's screen presence in the pic.
Prior to the crew's discovery of their unexpected guest and just how dire their circumstances
are, the burgeoning space family begins to establish quite a cozy new rapport in the
ship.
"Applicable?"
"Applicable is British."
"How do I look?"
"Stunning."
"No, come on, I'm serious.
This is a big deal."
"You look good.
You look fine, seriously.
You look good."
These early scenes go the extra mile in introducing each member of the crew as unique, relatable
characters, and one of Kendrick's scenes in particular makes you fall in love with her
character.
Almost immediately after setting in, Zoe decides to lighten the mood by playing a prank on
her fellow astronaut scientist David Kim, who happens to be a graduate of Harvard.
Not only does this scene establish the character as the heart of the crew, but it also shows
off just how many nuances Kendrick puts into her performances.
In the scene, David Kim is experiencing a case of motion sickness, which is understandable
considering he's just been launched into space, and things get just bumpy enough on the way
out that even the ship's commander Marina Barnett briefly considers aborting the launch
partway through.
So, as the trained medic of the ship, Zoe steps up with something to help ease his discomfort.
She also gives him a dose of a very different kind of medicine when she serves it to him
with one of her Yale mugs.
Kendrick's pointed glances at the ship's commander are playful, but subtle, as her character
quietly waits for the inevitable response from David once he realizes he's drinking
from a rival school's mug.
"Come on, Zoe."
"What?"
"Really?"
"What are you...I'm not…"
Kendrick has always been able to say so much even when she has few words, thanks to her
sensational command of her facial expressions.
And here, the actress seems to be enjoying the joke just as much as her character is.
Kendrick also gets to display her celebrated talent for delivering dialogue in this scene.
She's certainly shown off her quick-punch dialogue skills in past performances, from
her turn as Jessica, the ultimate frenemy in Twilight, to her Oscar-nominated frequent
flyer character Natalie in Up in the Air.
And in this Stowaway scene, she gamely uses her tried and true quick-talking talents to
really dive into the joke.
"Commander, how did she get Payloads to allow this."
"I don't even know anyone at Payloads, so...how would I have…?"
"You wasted, what, 800 grams of your allowable personal effects on these."
Not only did she expend her precious personal effects allotment to bring this mug onboard
the vessel, but she doesn't actually even care about either school.
"You don't even care about the rivalry."
"No, but you do, David.
It's so easy."
With all of her gentle humor and good nature on display in this scene, it's no wonder Kendrick's
Zoe earns the title of the crew's resident comedian from her colleagues -- you know,
before the crew finds themselves in a giant mess of mortal danger.
"I should warn you now that Zoe thinks she's the in-flight entertainment."
Thanks for watching.
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