It's always interesting when a new movie swerves a cinema release but also doesn't instantly hit one of the biggest and best streaming services for free. Slingshot has done exactly that, and is now available to rent digitally.
It has some big stars in it, too, boasting Laurence Fishburne and Casey Affleck in major parts as it tries to tell a story about isolation and psychological pressure on space missions. Afflect plays one of three astronauts on a super long-range mission who starts to feel like he might not know everything he should about that journey.
With periodical wakings from long hibernation rests, it's a recipe for loneliness, home-sickness and suspicion, especially since Fishburne's character seems to know more than he's letting on. The above trailer also makes it clear that things will get fairly dark and tense by the movie's climax.
Alongside those two stars, the movie also features a very familiar face for fans of The Boys on Amazon Prime Video. Tomer Capone plays Frenchy in that show and also pops up in Slingshot to play the third member of the crew. The whole setup, as the bonds between them fray at the seams, looks familiar to anyone who's enjoyed Solaris or Sunshine in years gone by.
The reception to Slingshot so far has been hugely interesting, too. A few standout reviews have actually lauded it for a mature approach to its subject matter - The Guardian gave it a four-star review, in fact, which is nothing to sniff at. That's been overruled by the consensus, though, which is way more critical.
Over on Rotten Tomatoes you'll find that the movie sits on a 38% score from critics, but audiences are much more generous at 65%. If that's the sort of critical division that makes you interested in what it's like to actually watch, you can find the movie on a few different platforms. In the UK you can buy it for less than £10 on Amazon, while in the US you can rent it or buy it through Amazon, too. Big sci-fi fans might owe it at least the chance to impress them.
