Primerfan I realize that different people have different reasons for watching science fiction films. What matters to me is the plot, not the budget for special effects, sets, and costumes. The plot of this movie is suspenseful, well-paced, and thought-provoking. A refreshing change from the proliferation of movies that consist of nonstop, mind-numbing battle scenes and explosions.

mlambert890-1 Don't be dissuaded by some of the deeply negative reviews. It seems many either lack attention span or weren't focused as the narrative is absolutely logically consistent. As an example, one reviewer complained about the bit where it has been indicated the wife was distressed being a plot hole, but this was absolutely explained in the movie. Everything laid out was realistic, including the behavior by China (which, frankly, is a direct match for *how China behaves today*), the astronaut himself, and by the bureaucrats at the DoD.It's a small story with a small cast but a large concept. A hand picked senior astronaut accepts the most important mission in human history, one that necessitates leaving a chunk of his old life behind even assuming he survives, in exchange for the opportunity to make the greatest discovery imaginable.What he finds is far more Contact, than 2001 (don't be fooled by those lazy comparisons that are based purely on the superficial look and the "AI buddy" with no other similarities to be found), and we are left with a cliff hanger.I'm hoping they make enough to give us a sequel!

nightmoose This is one of the most boring and empty plotted movies that I have ever seen. No, I don't care that weren't explosions, CGI, or a massive budget. No, I don't care if there is supposed to be a sequel. This movie was painfully slow and without purpose, suspense, satisfaction, or emotion.Story: A single astronaut flies to three parts of our solar system to land and pick up a small sphere at each. He touches them. He sees images (water, trees, his wife, a chess board). When he gets all three spheres together there's a burst of information. It's some form of communication. He's given directions to another part of the solar system. He heads off in that direction. End.That's it. That's the entire 1hr and 45min.The acting was uninspiring and the connection to the characters weak. All the "science" could have been written on a single cue card. This movie wasn't the slightest bit entertaining, moving, or thought provoking. I wasn't drawn into the movie at all. Some are trying to make comparisons with Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" but Magellan has none of the suspense, imagery, imagination, or complexity found in 2001.You want decent, non-flashy fiction? Try: Pi (1998); Primer (2004); Moon (2009); Europa Report (2013); or Coherence (2013).

Fredrick Jackson The first thing that I did not understand about this lousy movie is why would America (N,A.S.A) send only one man on a mission this important. The Chinese sent a least 3 and we still don't know what happened to them. The Chinese it seems were just being used as bad guy's to create some kind of plot tension. This movie was cheap and made very little sense to the science fiction community. The ending was abrupt and made no sense. Some reviewers keep saying it's about a sequel, I think they just ran out of story and didn't know how to end it. There will not be a sequel to this rubbish. Watch it only if you have absolutely nothing else to do or watch.