Beyond White Space (2018)

Plot of Beyond White Space: A space craft, the Essex, is somewhere in a distant corner of the universe collecting crab like creatures which have a value back in their world, apparently. They do this by sending the crew out wearing space suits. There seem to be about half a dozen crew members, three of whom are women, one of those a recent recruit who turns out to be a member of the security services. The ship is successfully boarded by a pirate craft who steal all their stuff including the crab like creatures. Meanwhile the ship is losing oxygen, its shields are minimal and one of the crew is taken over by parasites. Nevertheless the captain decides to go after a mythical dragonlike creature which he thinks had killed his father years before. In the battle with the dragon the captain’s brother is killed but he goes on.

Content: There is sex. One of the crew is partnered with one of the women but is also secretly doing the other. The mate is constantly drinking. The security service woman investigates the ship, but we don’t know why she is there. We see the captain’s father battling with the creature. Generally the crew zoom about in powered space suits doing their job of collecting crab like creatures. One of the women is the pilot who seems to do this by looking at a screen which shows what might be algorithms. The security woman beheads the man who has been taken over by parasites, but he has already killed both the other female crew members. There are further deaths but it is difficult to see why.

A View: I had never heard of this film, but am always attracted by a bit of sci-fi. I never really understood why what was happening was happening. Why did the pirates have guns but the Essex did not have any? Why was there a security person amongst the crew, who the captain later imprisoned? Why was she imprisoned anyway? How did these creatures survive in a vacuum? Why did the parasites make a crew member a killer? Why did the other crew members start killing each other? Why did I watch it at all?

Fun Fact: From Hollywood Reporter “Viewers waiting to learn what exactly awaits ‘Beyond White Space’ may shudder when closing scenes hint wistfully at a sequel”.