Spaceman (2024) review

In order to find out what's happening with a "purple spectre" called "Chopra" that can be seen in the night sky, the Czech government sends cosmonaut Jakub Procházka (Adam Sandler) on a solo mission to investigate - while he's thousands of miles away from home, his pregnant wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan) decides she wants to leave him, his grip on reality starts to slip and he receives an unexpected visit from a mind-reading spider that he names Hanuš (voiced by Paul Dano) who at first appears threatening but turns out to be a loyal confidante.  Director Renck, working off Colby Day's adaptation of Jaroslav Kalfař's novel Spaceman of Bohemia, unimaginatively "borrows" from several well-known sci-fi movies (including The Martian, High Life, Interstellar and maybe even Tarkovsky's Solaris) for its appearance and, story-wise, it's an incoherent mess: he tries to show Sandler and Mulligan's "happy times" together but there's no chemistry between them and the use of a distorted lens (perhaps inspired by his years making music videos) is an irritating distraction.  The "bond" Jakub forms with soft-spoken Hanuš is more tangible than anything else taking place - surely the spouse of an astronaut should understand the need for emotional support....