Somnus (2016) | Film Review

There are moments when being a movie reviewer isn’t an enviable job. I review movies because I love the art form and because I love story. So, when a movie comes along that I can’t get behind, I don’t want to review it both because I’m having to spend even more of my time on a project that won’t please either myself or the filmmakers, and because I don’t take joy in being the bearer of bad news. “Somnus” is just such an occasion.

The film has been described thusly across a myriad of movie sites: When malfunctions aboard a commercial vessel force a change of course to the remote asteroid colony Somnus, the crew soon discover the inhabitants of Somnus have a dark past, and troubling plans for the future of mankind. This is accurate, but what it fails to convey is the boring way in which it all goes down.

A science fiction movie with that sort of premise should be exciting, but instead we’re treated to a boring – if thankfully short with a run time of around 83 minutes – movie that left me looking at my watch more often than I care to admit. At the heart of the movie are some heady ideas and premises, and the filmmakers know that, which isn’t good, because I could feel the arrogance and chin stroking that went on behind the camera. I felt like people were trying hard to not look hard at impressing me with their shots that might have held some sort of wonder if there was actually worthy context to them. I could practically smell the pipe smoke and airs of my-aren’t-we-being-clever. Clever is good, but not if it’s simply for the sake of being clever. That is an old pet peeve of mine, and it’s in full affect in “Somnus”.

Was the acting from Tom Bonington, Klemens Koehring, and the rest well done? Meh. Frankly, it was as snore inducing as the rest of the movie. Did the film showcase space and what it must be like to fly through that space as all good science fiction movies SET IN SPACE should do? Nope. The space shots all looked like something from a film student’s movie in the 70s, and the interior shots would make TV shows like Doctor Who appear magnificent in comparison. There was no grit, no sense of machinery or age. It just…was there. And the direction was so intent on making ART that it forgot to entertain as well. Such a pity.

All in all, “Somnus” – which is the name of the Roman god of sleep – is an apt title. I yawned my way through nearly ever minute of this movie, and I have no plans on ever subjecting myself to it again. If you want to watch a heady science fiction film that’s also artistic and entertaining, go watch Solaris instead – I particularly love the Soderbergh version – and give “Somnus” a pass.