This took 10 years for the filmmakers to plan out and dream up, and was supposed to come out in theaters late last year before the pandemic delayed it and moved it to Netflix. It's not some wildly grounded story like The Expanse series with interplanetary governmental cold wars, political intrigue, and human rights issues. But there is the planet Earth and its working-class debt-ridden space sweepers being oppressed by a privileged class leaving them behind for (a terraformed!) Mars. And where The Expanse has the sometimes magical-seeming (from a narrative standpoint) protomolecule, this has nanobots, which are literally so prolific they pollute almost every bit of space trash. It follows the rules it establishes within the narrative, while playing with solid sci-fi themes in extremely visually unique ways.

This was marketed to fans of Guardians of the Galaxy but the story's nowhere near as silly and the characters aren't trying to make you laugh every minute. That snarky robot? You'll be the opposite of annoyed with the robot by the end. The set-pieces are genuinely creative and did things I haven't seen before in space battle sequences. Even the original conceit as shown in the trailer goes deep into emotional territory I didn't predict, without spoiling.

Give it a chance! It's a fun action adventure, it's Korea's first EVER big space movie, it's got Thorin Oakenshield in it, it doesn't insult your intellect, and it somehow only cost 20 mil USD while looking like at least 4 times that budget. Check my profile and you'll see me gushing about it elsewhere - takes me back to when I was telling my friends to watch/read the little underdog called The Expanse!