This movie missed every opportunity to surprise the audience
My main issue with this movie was how it played everything painfully straight. With some unexpected twists, this could have been a decent experience, but the writers refused to createa competent plot. The result is a formulaic borefest with nothing to spice it up.
There was a chance to depict the company who sent them to the mission as a company similar to Weyland-Yutani, only caring for profit margins. Evidently they pushed the captain not to abort the mission, even after they learned about the situation onboard. That could also have been the explanation of how the engineer guy got stuck there. But there was no real role for the company. Hell, we did not even see one face from the control room. We didn't even see their attempts to help, their priorities, their thinking. No, we were stuck with the crew.
There could have been some expository dialogue about how the company treats its workers and scientists. They could have discussed how cold and calculated they are, still insisiting they should continue the mission. But no, this opportunity was also missed. The engineer guy even commented on how they modified the originally 2 crew ship to accomodate 3 instead of building a new one. I thought this will be the part where they further explain about the company, but no, that also went nowhere.
Even with a successful Weyland-Yutani depiction, it would be really hard to believe that there is no headcount check before the launch of a spaceship. If not for any other reason, then because of the fact that any extra weight would jeopardize the mission... duh. As it stands in the movie, the scenario is completely ridiculous: the error of him being not accounted for is too huge, and what physically happened makes no sense. How did he seal the panel???
Because of this suspicious circumstance, I had some hope for a later revelation, that he stowed away on purpose for some reason. There was even a mention that her sister will be cared for on the company's money. Maybe this was exactly what he wanted? Maybe he doesn't make enough to pay for professional caretakers? I would've been a stretch, but it at least would have given Michael some motivation and would have given him character.
As for the moral dilemma - it was played painfully straight. Zoe (Anna Kendrick's character) was the only one who truly cared about Michael, so around their very first scene I called that she will be the one sacrificing herself for him. Nothing else would have made sense dramatically. The cardio thing was the other clue. No one else was fit enough to go for the second O2 canister, so the last 15 mins of the movie contained zero surprises. And BTW - an astronaut with motion sickness? Seriously...? Anyways, a cut to the moment they arrive on Mars would have given a bit more meaning to Zoe's actions, but we don't even see that - or anything about the aftermath. For all we know, they might not have even made it to Mars... wow...
No surprises, no excitement, no strong characters, no unique plot... The only positive thing was that Zoe at least had a character, and Anna Kendrick gave her best and worked excellently with the C-grade material she was given. The highlight scene being the discussion with the captain and Kim about how they should take more days to think about the problem and not just go with "okay, we kill him". That scene was decently acted by the others as well, but this movie has not much else going for it.
A true disappointment.