#721 – Space Milkshake (2012)

Space Milkshake (2012)

Film review #721

Director: Armen Evrensel

SYNOPSIS: A Space Station brings aboard some salvage, only to find it contains a strange device that activates and causes the population of Earth to disappear. Worse, it also unleashes a transdimensional creature of some form, and so the four crewmembers must somehow band together and stop it…

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Space Milkshake is a 2012 sci-fi comedy film. The story centres around the space station Regina, where the four-person crew collects some salvage that turns out to house a time cube that erases all humans on earth, alongside a trans-dimensional monster that threatens to erase the crew too. The film, as a sci-fi comedy, is light-hearted and silly, reminiscent of films such as Dark Star, or an episode of Red Dwarf. The plot as such doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and there are massive gaps regarding how all humanity disappeared apart from the crew, the origins of the monster etc. This isn’t the focus or particularly necessary, but in place of this worldbuilding and details, you need some strong comedy, satire or characters to hold things together.

While the characters have their own distinct personalities that play off each other, there’s just frighteningly little substance to their interactions. There’s some attempt to set up comedic situations (the whole “keeping to a schedule” thing, the food dispenser only dispensing sandwiches), but they don’t really go anywhere or figure into any of the comedy. The sets are very minimal and cramped, which gives very little room for anything unique to happen, but also the sameness makes the whole movie feel like it doesn’t go anywhere: obviously that’s the point for a film set on a space station, but it doesn’t make interesting storytelling. The effects on the monster (voiced by George Takei) are not particularly great, and a missed opportunity to throw in some physical comedy. Space Milkshake is best defined as “just a bit of fun,” in the sense that nothing is really done with intent; just as the nonsensical title suggests. However, that doesn’t mean that you get to not try to make something of substance, or take time to set up a joke. As such, the film just often feels like a bit of faffing, which doesn’t quite translate into maintaining attention over the length of a film.