One of the biggest problems with Netflix’s deluge of original content swamping the library each and every week is that a worrying number of hidden gems have been allowed to slip through the cracks way too easily in favor of the next star-powered blockbuster or buzzy episodic epic, and Stowaway definitely deserves to be included among the ranks of those that got away.
Writer and director Joe Penna’s taut sci-fi thriller only premiered in April of last year, and spent a hot minute as the number one most-watched feature on the platform, but it ended up drifting away and becoming lost to the vast, unforgiving, and endless nothingness that is the Netflix catalogue.
That being said, the nail-biting cosmic conundrum that finds Anna Kendrick, Toni Collette, and Daniel Dae Kim’s astronauts placed in an unthinkable position when they discover Shamier Anderson’s titular unexpected passenger has come with them on an intergalactic mission that’s only ever been designed with enough key resources in mind for three people did score strong reviews out of the gate.
The moral quandary at the center of the story creates an instantly-engaging hook, and having a mere four cast members onscreen for the 116-minute duration creates an immersive, personal, atmosphere that becomes increasingly fraught. Per FlixPatrol, Stowaway has been surreptitiously shipped back onto the global most-watched rankings, and it’s not before time.
The company regularly comes under fire for making so many formulaic actioners that border on the identikit, so it’s ironic that an underrated genre gem is allowed to fly so far under the radar only 18 months after first briefly capturing the imagination.
