SLINGSHOT TRAILER 1
A trio of astronauts partway through a years-long journey to Saturn prepares to execute a life-or-death maneuver. But one of them may have lost his mind along the way. This is the 1st trailer for Slingshot.
Astronaut John (Casey Affleck) is an astronaut en route to Saturn’s moon Titan, alongside fellow astronaut Capt. Franks (Lawrence Fishburne) and Nash (Tomer Capon). The trio prepares to execute a slingshot, using gravity to propel them forward to Titan. But one wrong maneuver, and they could be launched into deep space.
As time goes on, John begins to undergo hallucinations. Capt. Franks assures him it’s a side effect of their cryosleep medications, but John slowly begins to unravel, seeing visions of his girlfriend Zoe (Emily Beecham). Meanwhile, the ship begins to malfunction…. or does it? As John struggles to keep his grip on reality, he must contend with the increasing possibility that he’ll never make it back home.
The trailer for a locked-room thriller can hide its plot twists all it wants, but audiences are savvy. Hooking an audience has proven tougher than ever when unreliable narrators are made clear upfront, because literally anything could happen. No, the strength of the 1st trailer for Slingshot rests firmly on its lead actor.
Does Casey Affleck deliver? Yes and no. While the Bostonian delivers a typically powerhouse performance, the trailer’s low-budget aesthetic and hokey aesthetic highlights the bigger dramatic elements of Affleck’s character (including a hallucination where he apparently transforms into “The Thing” from Fantastic Four) when the film’s logline suggests a slow descent into paranoia.
Because of that, the nuances of a potentially Emmy-award winning performance feel buried in a trailer depicting a perfectly adequate B-movie that would likely run on TBS on Sunday afternoons. And, while a potential missed opportunity, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Directed by Mikael Hafstrom, Slingshot is scheduled to release theatrically in the US on August 30, 2024. The film stars Casey Affleck, Lawrence Fishburne & Emily Beecham in the lead roles.
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