Stargazers is the feature-length debut of writer/director Jonathan Brooks. The science fiction adventure follows a 12-year-old boy named Jack (Leo Cropley). He has moved around Britain often due to his dad’s job. However, Jack’s dad, Professor Alan (Neil James), has promised that this new town, Drapery Falls, will be their home for a great long while. This is great news for Jack, as he actually made friends here: Benji (Henry Richards) and Sadie (Mollie Thomson). Unfortunately, most of the rest of the town scoffs at Jack due to his dad’s job, which is dissecting interstellar signals to prove there’s life in outer space.
However, when a bounty hunter alien detects a signal coming from Drapery Falls, it lands in the nearby forest and begins its search. The tentacle-faced extraterrestrial takes the likeness of the first human it comes in contact with, a lady named Lucy (Lauren Cornelius). Lucy traces the signal back to Professor Alan, which puts Jack and his friends in its crosshairs. What or who is the alien looking for? How do Jack, Benji, and Sadie factor into her mission?
The alien bounty hunter searches for a signal in Stargazers.
“…a bounty hunter alien detects a signal coming from Drapery Falls…which puts Jack and his friends in its crosshairs.”
By the end of Stargazers, I was still not entirely sure what Lucy’s ultimate goal was, as there was little backstory or development given about the alien’s culture, etc. It has to do with a starship that crashed years ago, but it is more of a MacGuffin than anything else. Why it matters to her and all remains nebulous.
With that said, the rest of the story makes sense and is engaging. The big stakes before Lucy lands and makes a mess of everything are that Jack and his dad are going to be moving again if proof cannot be readily found. So the children begin investigating the rumors of alien life around town, so Jack doesn’t have to leave. The trio’s friendship comes across naturally, and the three actors share a fun chemistry that makes it believable.
The exception to this is the minor subplot of the “bro code” between Jack and Benji. It is meant to be a joke, as they are both too young to know what it means. But it is not too funny, and it leads to a “third act break-up” that makes zero sense. It is an odd stumble for a film that is ultimately about friendship and how people need connections in their lives to feel seen and validated.
"…a fun ride for the whole family."
