For the dream of being a Space Ranger once again, one man will risk everything in 2022's Lightyear. This disastrously unpopular spin-off of the Toy Story franchise is a better movie than I was expecting. It was derivative but in ways I wasn't expecting. Some of the action scenes were really engaging and some of the ideas it borrowed from other works of science fiction are almost as thought provoking as they were in their original incarnations.
The thing I was most surprised to see was the time dilation effect. Nowadays most associated with Interstellar, the oldest example I can find in which it's used for this kind of dramatic effect is the Gainax 1988/89 series Top wo Nerae. Time dilation due to gravity or hyperspace had appeared before in fiction but, as far as I can tell, it was only depicted as accidental. Top wo Nerae is the oldest example I know of in which the protagonists knowingly go on missions, on a regular basis, which will cause them skip over several years. Thus introducing the dramatic potential of having loved ones at home on Earth aging much faster.
But this isn't the only way in which Lightyear resembles an old Gainax production. Buzz and his fellow Space Rangers arrive on the hostile planet in a big ship he calls "the Turnip" because it looks like a big turnip. Not unlike the big daikon (also a white root vegetable) ship that appears in the famous Daikon animations created by Gainax staff members in the early '80s.
The movie begins with an overly jokey tone that doesn't really work. Buzz accidentally wrecks the Turnip and he his comrades become stranded, it turns out, for generations. Everyone ages but Buzz due to the fact that, in an effort to rebuild their hyperdrive, he's constantly doing test flights in which he approaches hyperspace. He gets close enough to make sixty years pass in what seems like a few weeks to him.
There are two big thematic ideas the movie tries to play with but botches both. It tries to be a story about how Buzz needs to learn he's not a lone hero--he needs to accept he's part of a team effort--and it tries to be a story about how achieving your dream isn't the only way to find a meaningful life. I don't think the filmmakers had any true faith in either idea and they both get kind of muddled. Buzz grousing about how he doesn't need help from a bunch of amateurs barely has time to take hold because the writers were evidently too aware that it doesn't make sense for Buzz to complain about it so much in a life or death scenario. It ends up coming across like he had no particularly unreasonable hang-up about working with rookies. In ideal situations, yeah, it probably isn't a good idea to throw untrained, inexperienced cadets to the wolves.
The other idea, about how Buzz shouldn't feel so bad about not fulfilling his promise to enable his friends to be Space Rangers again because they ended up having full lives on the planet, is totally undermined by the end of the film. But it also doesn't work because the movie never tells us anything about what being a Space Ranger is and why Buzz thinks it's the only thing that will give his life meaning. Is there a central base on Earth? Are people on Earth waiting for news about inhabitable worlds? The movie never makes it clear so, whether or not there's a life or death reason the Space Rangers need to find new worlds or if it's Buzz blowing out of proportion a luxury vocation, it's left up to the viewer's imagination. So the film avoids committing to either potentially weak concept. If Space Rangers are truly of vital importance, then the film's message is meaningless. If they're not, then Buzz is more than a charming egotist, he's a dangerously delusional madman who risks everyone's lives just so he can feel special.
Meanwhile, the reasons this movie is actually controversial are incredibly superficial and silly. It's been banned in many countries because two women kiss each other in one scene. I actually didn't even spot the moment so I wonder if it did end up being cut. Otherwise, that it was so inconsequential that I didn't even spot it makes the ban a particularly egregious example of homophobia. The other controversy, about replacing Tim Allen with Chris Evans, I can understand a little more. I'm not a big Tim Allen fan but he would have worked much better in the role. I don't think either Evans or Allen has more talent than the other. But most of the dialogue makes Buzz out to be the usual cartoonish fool so there was no need for a more dramatic performer. In fact, Evans' lack of talent for comedy likely weakened the film considerably.
Some of the action scenes aren't bad but they mostly feel like things from other movies. The robot cat is cute.
Lightyear is available on Disney+.
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