
All of that grounding is around the girl they found, her impact on them, and how they’re able to see something beyond just the next dollar thanks to her. In fact, it takes time to routinely ground itself in the connections between the crew to showcase something more than space battles and evil corporations. While Space Sweepers puts the characters in dangerous situations and reveals their action-packed pasts, the film doesn’t lose sight of its emotional core. The on-screen chemistry between each member is both caring, exciting, and authentic to the bickering that can only come from family. And Park is a former gangster with a heart of gold, a thick skull, and a penchant for swinging a titanium ax. Tae-ho is a man stricken by hidden grief that pushes him to keep trying to find answers. Jang is a captain who enjoys her alcohol and has little to no care for situations that don’t directly affect her. Bubs’ personality has all the charm of the droids that came before them and offers up both humor and heart. Victory’s grime and grit is reminiscent of Alien‘s Nostromo and the way that technology can be futuristic but stripped to its most basic parts, clearly denoting class. There are elements and nods to multiple films in the genre but never once does Space Sweepers seem like it’s trying too hard to fit into a mold. It pushes the gas pedal as far as it can go. Space Sweepers is directed by Jo Sung-hee and is a pure science fiction film that showcases beautiful action set pieces and space ship battles in tight quarters. But of course, none of that goes as planned and the crew of Victory starts on a path of familial bonding, love, and surprising moral growth that may not be easily bought. Take the girl and offer a ransom in exchange for enough money to clear their debt, rebuild their ship, and get Tae-ho some damn shoes. Wanted by both the corporate entity, UTS, which is ruling over the dystopian future that it both helped create and claims to want to save people from, and a terrorist group known as the Black Foxes, the crew makes an easy decision. Of course, the surly and bitter crew don’t become parents immediately-well, Park does-but they do realize that she’s the humanlike robot wanted by UTS Space Guards. When the crew successfully snatches up a crashed space shuttle in the latest debris chase, they find a 7-year-old girl inside. Not even just normal broke, but completely out of all credit anywhere broke. Crewed with a genius space pilot Tae-ho ( Song Joong-Ki), a mysterious ex-space pirate Captain Jang ( Kim Tae-ri), a spaceship engineer Tiger Park ( Jin Seon-kyu), and a reprogrammed military robot Bubs ( Yoo Hae-Jin), spaceship Victory surpasses all other space sweepers. Set in 2092, spaceship Victory is one of the many that live off salvaging space debris. There is a clear division in class, and in cyberpunk, your protagonist is often looking to obliterate the status quo even if it’s unwittingly at first. Instead of a gilded future of space travel, we see banal science fictive elements like work ships and grimey tech that seems both futuristic and out of date set against spectacularly rich elements of technology and bodily enhancements. As a genre, cyberpunk deals directly with oppressive societies in dystopian futures that blend low-tech, high-tech, the rich, and the poor, by consistently juxtaposing them against each other. Contrary to what Cyberpunk 2077would have you believe, cyberpunk as a genre isn’t about the flashing neon lights and the ability to play as a corporate character. Space Sweepers captures all of the things I love about cyberpunk and does so with found-family, an international future, and a plan to save the Earth from corporate greed.
