A Million Miles Away: Movie Review

Cast: Michael Peña, Rosa Salazar

Director: Alejandra Márquez Abella

From a film that has its sights set on the stars, A Million Miles Away feels awfully grounded in its ambitions for a lot of its two hour duration.

Granted, it's supposed to be the inspiring story of José Hernández, the first migrant worker to head to space - and it's supposed to push the family-friendly idea that any dream is achievable if you work away at it, believe in it and have the support around you.

But despite the wonderfully genial Michael Peña taking on the role of Hernández and Alita: Battle Angel's Rosa Salazar as his wife, A Million Miles Away doesn't seem to know how to make Hernández's journey rise from the formulaic and the safe.

Following Hernández from his boyhood days working in a cornfield to his dogged determination to keep applying to NASA despite rejection, director Alejandra Márquez Abella doesn't seem interested in showing the adversity as conflict, more as an occasional road block that is relatively easily overcome.

And despite the film filing wonderfully on the aesthetics of the various era, it flies through time zones with only the most minor of details to show time has passed. As a result, Hernández's journey is massively condensed and the emotional heft is weakened throughout when truly it should be leaving audiences in puddles.

It may work as a paean to self-belief, family and support from others, but most of A Million Miles Away feels like it misses the mark, hitting cursory moments and rote designs on the narrative aimed at leaving audiences in tears. There's no take on the American assimilation of millions of Mexicans who crossed the borders for better lives, only the vaguest hints in moments when Hernández says he doesn't want to be known as the enchilada guy at work - or is dismissed by the receptionist as a cleaner rather than an engineer.

It's not a disaster by any stretch of the imagination, and thanks to Peña's demeanour throughout, a lot of A Million Miles Away feels like perfectly pleasant Sunday afternoon on the couch viewing fare - but as a would-be inspirational and representative film that's for the next generation, it's too lacking and earthbound.

A Million Miles Away begins streaming on Prime Video on Friday, September 15.