Starring: Lana Condor, Cole Sprouse, Mason Gooding, Emily Rudd, Zach Braff, Lukas Gage
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
HBO Max sci-fi romantic comedy directed by Chris Winterbauer. Set in a future where Mars is terraformed and colonized, Moonshot (2022) follows Walt (Cole Sprouse) and Sophie (Lana Condor), two very different college students, as they join forces to sneak onboard a space shuttle from Earth to Mars in order to be united with their significant others, Calvin (Mason Gooding) and Ginny (Emily Rudd) respectively. The two embark upon a lively journey that winds up taking them both wildly and unexpectedly off course.
Our Favorite Quotes:
'When you look at something from this distance, it's all possibility. Then every step you take toward that strips it away until it is what it is. And what it always has been.' - Ginny (Moonshot) Share on X
Best Quotes
Walt: [referring to the Sun] I was obsessed. Because there was more out there than the new town, or the new school which always felt like the same town, and the same school. And I think if I could’ve gotten the chance to just go up there, and look back I would’ve seen where I fit in, in this crazy universe. Exploration is the way that we discover where we truly belong. And I just, I don’t belong here.
Walt: [referring to a customer] Did she just smile at me?
Gary: Honestly, I’d say she smiled past you.
Walt: Analysis.
Gary: There is a fifty-two percent chance of romantic interest. But a forty-eight percent chance she pities you due to your low status position as an assistant barista to a robot on a university campus. Shall I continue?
Walt: Don’t you want to be part of something special?
Dalton: Walt. You’re not special. I’m not special. Most people, not special. Listen, someday, you’re going to meet someone, and make something special with them. Like a memory. Or a weird, well, baby thing. But until then, drink this, and for the love of God do not bring up Mars.
Jan: Go. Mingle. We’ll be back soon. And in the meantime, it might be good for you to have some new experiences.
Sophie: Nothing’s more overrated than new.
Jan: There’s a title for your thesis.
Ginny: I’ve never seen light flirting take such a dark turn.
Walt: Basically my superpower. Just one brief conversation with me will really leave you questioning everything.
Ginny: Not the hero we need, but maybe the one we deserve.
Ginny: Why Mars?
Walt: I feel like if I had been born like six hundred years ago, I would’ve stolen a boat and just set sail by now. And I probably would’ve died.
Ginny: Oh, definitely would’ve died.
Walt: But it would’ve been an adventure. You know? And now there’s Mars, and I keep applying. But thirty-six rejections later, and I’m starting to get the feeling that…
Ginny: They don’t need extraordinary mediocrity?
Ginny: I think when you look at something from this distance, it’s all possibility. Then every step you take toward that strips it away until it is what it is. And what it always has been.
Walt: [over phone] Application thirty-seven is pending review, and I need you to approve it. I need to be on that ship tomorrow. To be with the girl of my dreams, who has slowly stopped responding to my texts. My chance at a relationship is imploding like a dying star. Do you understand?
Angie: I do, Walt. And I sincerely hope you can ask her out, in four hundred and twelve days, after next year’s mission.
Walt: If you don’t order anything, you can’t use the Wi-Fi and sit here like a black hole of sadness. Company policy.
Sophie: It’s a stupid policy.
Walt: How’s the Mars boyfriend?
Sophie: Great. Yeah, he got his Martian dream job. So, one year of long distance just became indefinite. And then my Wi-Fi cut out. Probably because of all the calls with him trying to make it work. And now I’m sitting here, suffering in public, and paying for drinks that I didn’t order. So you tell Gary, I hope he gets malware.
Gary: I hope she fails to find long-term companionship and learns the pain of a solitary life.
Walt: What does this Mars genius have that I don’t?
Sophie: Everything. Yeah.
Walt: Everything? Could you actually be more specific? I’m trying to figure out why they keep rejecting my applications.
Sophie: He checks all the boxes.
Walt: [as she hands him the list] Oh. You mean, literally. Okay, let’s see. “Quiet. Strong jaw. Mental fortitude. Six-pack.”
Sophie: [after Walt suggests she buys the ticket to go to Mars] I have aerophobia.
Walt: Well, we’re all afraid of arrows.
Sophie: Oh, my God! I’m afraid of flying!
Sophie: Calvin is on Mars. Jan, Brandon, Jim, they’re all there.
Walt: How many boyfriends do you have?
'When you find something extraordinary, you fight for it. Sacrifice for it. Protect it. Because what most of us fail to appreciate when presented with something truly unique, is that it will only ever exist once.' (Moonshot) Share on X
Sophie: What are you doing here? And what are you wearing?
Walt: I just came to see the launch. And I got all this duty-free. Wore it right out of the store.
Sophie: Duty-free doesn’t mean free. You just robbed a gift shop.
Walt: What? No. Wait, really?
Sophie: [to Walt] You are the ingrown toenail of humanity.
Sophie: It’s something I have to do when I’m nervous. I dance to relieve tension.
Walt: No, no, no. I’m into it.
Sophie: Don’t make fun of me.
Walt: I’m not. This is the first interesting thing I’ve seen you do.
Sophie: I hate when boys do that. As if they are the arbiters of all that is interesting.
Sophie: Goodbye forever, Walt.
Walt: Well, maybe not forever.
Sophie: Forever.
Walt: Oh, I actually got you something. Don’t worry, I paid for it this time. But Duty Free should really change its name.
Sophie: You used me.
Walt: No. A little. I can explain. I’m going to hide in that air duct. You’re never going to see me again.
Sophie: Until you get caught. Or die.
Walt: I’m not going to get caught.
Sophie: I already caught you.
Walt: [after Sophie suggests he stays on her room] I’m not going to spend my first trip to space on the toilet.
Sophie: Because you prefer the air ducts?
Walt: Because what do you think happens when two people are trapped in the same room together?
Cornelia: When two humans are confined for an extended period it results in either more humans, or fewer humans.
Captain Tartar: And I’m your captain, Tarter. Captain Tarter.
Walt: Calvin. I like your sauce.
Captain Tartar: It’s Captain. The sauce is my father.
Sophie: Do you think I would let the love of my life take one of these ships across the solar system without knowing exactly how it’s made?
Walt: Don’t say that like it’s normal.
Walt: Cornelia, is my heart normal?
Cornelia: Your biorhythms are elevated. You may be experiencing cardiac arrest, or sexual reproduction.
Walt: Oh, it’s definitely not sexual reproduction.
'It doesn't matter how far you travel, you can never escape yourself.' - Captain Tartar (Moonshot) Share on X
Walt: This is going to suck, isn’t it?
Sophie: Only for thirty-five days.
Tabby: [to Walt, who’s pretending to be Calvin] We would love it if you would do a lecture on terraforming.
Celeste: Since you are the expert.
Sophie: He had a traumatic accident on stage last year, and he’s recovering still.
Tabby: Did you get an erection?
Walt: What?
Sophie: Yes.
Sophie: You have to keep a low profile.
Walt: I am. People want to hang out with me, even after the erection rumors. It’s weird, I know. It’s never happened to me before.
Sophie: You can’t change things without telling me, okay? There’s a plan, and we stick to the plan. If we don’t, we go to jail, or we get ejected into the sun. You can’t just unilaterally change things because you’re insecure about your relationship.
Walt: Oh, I’m sorry. Are you talking to me, or are you talking to Calvin right now?
Sophie: What’s that supposed to mean?
Walt: I didn’t change your plans. Calvin did. I didn’t ditch you to go to Mars for a job, Calvin did. I didn’t refuse to send you nudes.
Walt: You know, you’re almost always right. Even in those last three arguments with Calvin. And I know I shouldn’t have read them, but you were right. It’s honestly creepy, and kind of annoying, how right you are all the time. Especially as someone who is wrong almost all the time. Never right. Well, except right now. Me saying that you’re right…
Sophie: Okay. I got it. Thanks.
Walt: Do you ever worry that the wrong person is headed to the wrong planet?
Sophie: When you find something extraordinary, you fight for it. Sacrifice for it. Protect it.
Walt: Yes. Because what most of us fail to appreciate when presented with something truly unique, is that it will only ever exist once.
Sophie: You read my thesis.
Walt: I may have even understood it.
Sophie: That is weirdly touching.
Walt: [as he’s being asked to present] What do I do?
Sophie: I don’t know. Maybe just riff. Isn’t like talking your superpower?
'When you find that thing that you're willing to cross the entire universe to be with, just make sure it's ready to do the same for you. Don't terraform yourself. It's your life too.' - Walt (Moonshot) Share on X
Walt: When I look at you, I see the smartest people on the planet. And you’ve spent your entire lives trying to check an impossible set of boxes for Mars. And I get it. Mars is awesome. I applied to this program like thirty-seven times. But maybe when you find that thing that you’re willing to cross the entire universe to be with, just make sure it’s ready to do the same for you. Don’t terraform yourself. It’s your life too.
Walt: [referring to her dress] Did you make this?
Sophie: I didn’t pack a dress.
Walt: You are so annoyingly good at things.
Sophie: Coming from a guy that just inspired an engagement party with a speech pulled from the deepest recesses of his own a**.
Sophie: I don’t do birthdays.
Walt: You also don’t fly on rockets, or conspire with stowaways. I think you just got to face it. You’re a space criminal now.
Trailer: