3022 (2019)

A group of space travelers begin to question their sanity in this psychological thriller from director John Suits.

It is the year 2190 and Jupiter’s third moon is set to be home to a base known as Europa One. A selected group of travelers have been hired to hop onboard the space station Pangea and begin a ten-year mission. However, midway through their mission, Captain John Laine begins to have very nightmarish thoughts. When word among the crew slowly gets out about John’s mental status, Jackie Miller fears that they will be forced to go back to Earth and never work again. However, they soon find themselves in for the biggest shock when Earth is destroyed before their very eyes.

When the group starts receiving a strange signal onboard their ship, crew member Lisa Brown investigates but disappears. Shortly after Lisa’s disappearance, the signal returns and Dr. Richard Valin, another crew member, decides to investigate. Heading out into space he also disappears. The only ones left, John and Jackie overcome their differences and attempt to find out where the signal is coming from. They soon discover they are not the only ones who have survived as they try to get answers for the signal from the people they have discovered and what they think happened to Earth. However, John and Jackie are in for a major shock when some shocking revelations about their crew members’ disappearance in a race against time as everyone struggles to survive.

What is most intriguing about films set in outer space is that the setting could work well with any genre. There have been space comedies, space dramas, even space horror (Jason X or Leprechaun 4 anyone?). For this film, producer/director John Suits took Ryan Binaco’s script, which is akin to a psychological thriller, and came up with a well-thought out story about the psyche and the effects of the mind in a fight for survival on both an external and internal level.

The ensemble cast is led by the great Omar Epps, fresh off his role in the horror film Trick. Here, he plays the leader of the ship crew who after five years onboard, begins to question his mental psyche when he has nightmarish visions. Throughout the film, Epps plays Capt. Laine as a duality of being strong yet a bit unhinged in the situation. Kate Walsh plays perhaps the most grounded of the group in fellow crew member Jackie, who goes off on John in fear of losing her job because she made a great sacrifice to take the mission. Despite their somewhat limited time, Miranda Cosgrove and Angus Macfadyen make the best of their time as fellow crew members Lisa and Richard, respectively a young upstart and a health professional onboard who does attempt to get through to John.

Midway through the film, there poses a twist in the discovery of others like John and Jackie and this is where we see Jorja Fox give out a great performance as Diane, a French-born doctor whose crew made the same shocking discovery to see Earth destroyed before their eyes leading to both crews trying to figure out why Earth was destroyed, but this as well, leads into a very shocking twist in the story, just showing how much the psychological thriller works in a setting of outer space.

3022 is a well-made indie film that relates to the psyche of the human mind and in terms of a psychological thriller set in outer space with some great performances from the cast.

WFG RATING: B+

Saban Films and Kew Media Distribution presents a BondIt Media Capital production in association with Hideout Pictures, The Squid Farm, Title Media, and Octane Pictures. Director: John Suits. Producers: John Suits and Tara L. Craig. Writer: Ryan Binaco. Cinematography: Will Stone.

Cast: Omar Epps, Kate Walsh, Miranda Cosgrove, Angus Macfadyen, Jorja Fox, Enver Gjokaj, Haaz Sleiman, Brent Yoshida, Andrey Looye, Faith Alexis Oliver.

The film will be released in select theaters, On Demand, and Digital on November 22.