An asteroid miner crashes on an alien planet. With his oxygen supply dwindling and dangerous creatures hunting him, he must traverse treacherous terrain to rescue the only other known survivor – a woman trapped in her escape pod. A film by Josh Gordon & Will Speck, starring Anthony Ramos, Naomi Scott, Kristofer Hivju, and Zachary Quinto.

Aboard the mining vessel Borealis of McCluskey Hawthorne Corporation, asteroid miner Andy Ramirez (Anthony Ramos) awakens from cryogenic sleep after the ship is struck by multiple asteroids during its journey. Hundreds of escape pods automatically launch to save the passengers.

Most pods are fatally damaged during atmospheric entry to an unknown planet, killing their occupants. Andy’s pod crash-lands on the surface, and he miraculously survives unscathed.

However, while exiting the escape pod amid unstable terrain and internal fires, Andy accidentally breaches his suit, causing oxygen to leak. Though he quickly patches the hole, his tank has already lost significant oxygen, with only 42% remaining.

Accompanied by LEONARD, an obsolete AI assistant (voiced by Zachary Quinto), Andy has no choice but to journey toward the Borealis crash site, hoping to find oxygen tanks for survival.

During his trek, he encounters Dwayne (Kristofer Hivju), another survivor who has set up camp to send distress signals to Headquarters. Dwayne explains it would take nine months for the signal to reach the company, and another 18 months for the rescue team to arrive with their fastest ship. Andy learns that the company had chosen to take a shortcut through an asteroid field to save fuel, leaving them stranded on this planet for two years before rescue could arrive — assuming the signal even reaches Headquarters.

While Andy is busy reconnecting a wire he had accidentally tripped over, Dwayne is suddenly snatched away by a shadowy creature. When Andy turns around to find Dwayne missing, he assumes Dwayne has abandoned him to avoid sharing oxygen.

Andy continues toward the Borealis until he receives a signal from another survivor, Naomi Calloway (Naomi Scott), who is trapped in her escape pod with a pinned leg. Andy asks LEONARD to plot a new course to her location, but LEONARD warns that the destination lies in a hazardous red zone, potentially inaccessible due to unstable terrain and low visibility. The AI estimates that 30% of Andy’s remaining 34% oxygen would be consumed just reaching her location, approximately 10.7 kilometers away.

After careful consideration, Andy decides to rescue the woman, who promises she has enough oxygen for both of them to share, despite LEONARD’s warning that he would have a better chance of survival heading to the Borealis.

Directed by American filmmaker duo Will Speck & Josh Gordon from a screenplay by Spenser Cohen, LONG DISTANCE is a sci-fi comedy action thriller that proves surprisingly entertaining despite its simple, straightforward, and occasionally silly narrative, offering some unexpected twists and turns along the way.

The monster designs are particularly impressive, featuring gigantic spider-like creatures that relentlessly hunt their prey, fireflies that turn red when angered, and worm-like beings that slowly swallow their victims from underground. These creatures serve as perfect life-threatening obstacles that our protagonist must navigate through in the harshest of environments, often in the most comedic way possible.

Anthony Ramos delivers a hilarious performance as Andy Ramirez, a former music teacher turned asteroid miner following a family tragedy. He finds himself stranded on an uncharted planet filled with flesh-eating monstrous creatures. Since he’s not even a qualified astronaut who should have passed a series of rigorous simulations and tests, he spends most of his time frantically panicking about everything on this unknown planet. His interactions with the obsolete AI L.E.O.N.A.R.D. are quite humorous, especially as Andy repeatedly dismisses LEONARD’s suggestions despite having zero combat skills or knowledge about the strange planet. Ramos proves once again to be a captivating actor by carrying more than half the film’s runtime as the only person on screen.

Kristofer Hivju is also a delightful surprise, portraying Dwayne, another survivor Andy encounters along his journey. Dwayne is quickly swept away by spider-like creatures in an unexpected and comedic manner, leading to a laugh-out-loud moment where when Andy remains oblivious to Dwayne’s fate and assumes he simply abandoned him without saying a word.

I also enjoyed Naomi Scott’s performance as Naomi Calloway, another survivor from the spaceship crash, much more than in SMILE 2. I hope she receives more roles in romantic comedies.

Originally titled DISTANT, the film was scheduled for theatrical release in the United States on 11 March 2022 but it was postponed several times before Universal Pictures ultimately removed it from their release schedule for undisclosed reasons.

It’s such a shame that Universal Pictures chose to shelve this film, which I consider better and much more amusing compared to other sci-fi films I’ve seen in recent years. Speck & Gordon’s work carries a unique flair that’s rarely found in either straight-to-streaming or blockbuster films these days.

LONG DISTANCE was released theatrically in Vietnam on 12 July 2024 under the title Tín Hiệu Vũ Trụ (Cosmic Signal) by CJ Entertainment, and was subsequently made available on Video On Demand in Poland, Netherlands, France, and Italy.