Reel Review from SXSW 2025: Ash Fails to Bring Anything New to the Sci-Fi Genre
When Riya (Eiza Gonzalez) wakes up on a mysterious planet, physically injured, she discovers that all of her fellow crew mates have been murdered. Brion (Aaron Paul) who was stationed elsewhere comes to rescue her when things start to unravel as she must decide what is real and what isn’t.
Like many other science fiction movies, this film takes place in primarily one location of an astronaut station. Ash takes many elements from other films and mashes them together in one psychological thriller that seems to have very little stakes. While audiences learn that the group is attempting to inhabit this undefined planet, it is undetermined as to why they need a place suitable for human life.
It is known within the first twenty minutes of the movie, that the majority of the crew ends up dead, but you are given little to no context as to who these people are or their dynamics, making it hard to buy in to the film in an empathetic way. The actors give incredible performances, especially Gonzalez and Paul, but the lack of dialogue for substantial amounts of time didn’t give the actors enough to work with to really develop the characters.
In an attempt to differentiate itself from other similar films in the genre like Life, Alien, and The Thing, Ash presents an aggressive score and some bright, colorful, and interesting visuals. The planet itself and the color grading of the film do look out of this world, something not seen before. However, instead of this film feeling like an homage to the genre’s past, it feels like a poorly executed compilation of them all. The characters don’t have enough development, the twist isn’t all that shocking, and half the movie is spent following Riya through a murder scene that she doesn’t even understand.
While Ash attempted to bring something fresh to the Sci-Fi genre, it lacked the development or storyline needed to carry the weight that the visuals and score brought to the film. It is another twisted tale of humanity seeking a way out of the current situation that was self inflicted. The film offers no new takes or proposal of solutions, but rather a dark and pessimistic look at what our doomed future may hold.
Ash is playing in theaters now.
