End of the world and space stories are nothing new in science fiction – they are pretty much two of the foundational elements of the genre. They are also often related, with either something from space destroying the Earth or something going wrong on Earth and the population looking to escape to space. The latest sci-fi flick from Netflix, The Titan, is in the second category. 

Set in 2048, the basic premise involves the approaching overpopulation of Earth and the need to find a new place to live. But instead of seeking a planet with an environment similar to Earth, scientists have decided to find something “close enough” and attempt to chemically and surgically enhance humans to survive. The chosen location is Saturn’s moon Titan and the first round of test subjects are (not surprisingly) volunteers from the military. Though showing what the group goes through as a unit, the story primarily follows Lt. Rick Janssen, played by Avatar‘s Sam Worthington, and his family as he goes through the process of “forced evolution”.

Of course, it wouldn’t be true sci-fi if things didn’t go wrong along the way and they do – big time – as the experiments continue. (Warning: this becomes somewhat sci-fi/horror in the second half.) And, not surprisingly, the scientists haven’t exactly been entirely truthful about what’s going on. But ultimately, there is a degree of success, though the sacrifice was much greater than intended. Rick is transformed into something no longer human and, in the end, can’t even remain with his family in order to survive.

The Titan has a lot of potential that it just doesn’t live up to. It’s not a bad movie, but it moves slowly when it doesn’t need to, especially through the first half. When things get more exciting in the later half of the film, some elements seem to fly by with little explanation when slowing down a bit would have been more interesting. And when it finally ends, you’re left wondering why they stopped there, why they didn’t skip half of the build-up at the beginning and expand the story at the end. It’s a movie about getting into space that takes far too long to get there. But at least it’s on Netflix – I would have been more disappointed had I seen this in a theater.