SummaryInspired by the real-life story of NASA flight engineer José Hernández, A Million Miles Away follows him and his devoted family of proud migrant farm workers on a decades-long journey, from a rural village in Michoacán, Mexico, to the fields of the San Joaquin Valley, to more than 200 miles above the Earth in the International Space Stat...
SummaryInspired by the real-life story of NASA flight engineer José Hernández, A Million Miles Away follows him and his devoted family of proud migrant farm workers on a decades-long journey, from a rural village in Michoacán, Mexico, to the fields of the San Joaquin Valley, to more than 200 miles above the Earth in the International Space Stat...
The easy chemistry of Peña as the humble and brilliant aspirant and Salazar as the supportive, put-upon wife with dreams of her own makes their scenes together highlights. Salazar brings life and charm to a role that, in another biopic, could have been pretty thankless.
Writer-director Alejandra Márquez Abella never makes the slightest suggestion that José isn’t going to get where he’s going, but neither does she make A Million Miles Away into any kind of ethnic agitprop.
A Million Miles Away is an inspiring movie based on an inspiring story told in an inspiring way. It’s a tale of literally astronomical success in the face of daunting adversity, and it’s important as a reflection of hard-won representation.
A Million Miles Away is genuine in the way it presents its story, and the struggle Hernández endures, but it’s also so laser-focused on his space goals that it forgets to explore his inner life.
Unfortunately, despite its ready-made storyline and some likable performances, the curiously inert A Million Miles Away never achieves liftoff, even as its hero does.
As uplifting tales of inspiration and motivation, movies about underdogs and beating the odds have become increasingly popular in recent years, especially when based on true stories. And this latest Amazon Prime Video offering is yet another offering to come out of that genre. Writer-director Alejandra Márquez Abella’s biopic about the life of José Hernández (Michael Peña), the first individual from a migrant farm worker background to go on to become a NASA astronaut, chronicles the impressive journey of a young Mexican-American from the agricultural fields of California to the flight deck of the Space Shuttle Discovery. The film provides a comprehensive view of this unlikely hero’s life from his often-disrupted childhood to his career as a Lawrence Livermore Laboratory engineer to his tenacious efforts at becoming a space-faring explorer, an uphill battle during which the odds were often stacked against him, both professionally and as a dutiful husband, father and son. It’s a moving story, the kind of picture that makes a good viewing choice for impressionable, wide-eyed grade school students with big dreams of their own. However, it’s also extremely formulaic in its storytelling approach, precisely hitting all of the requisite high and low points in just the right amounts and at just the right times. The downside in this is that it becomes predictable, at times blatantly obvious, even without knowing the particulars of the protagonist’s story, seriously undercutting any meaningful attempts at narrative originality. The picture is also a little on the long side; in its sincere attempt to be thorough, it sometimes incorporates so much detail that the story’s more incidental moments start to bog down the flow of the film. To its credit, this release has its delightful moments of unexpected humor and features fine performances by its capable cast, even if the material they’ve been given to work with at times seems a little lackluster, despite the underlying heroic nature of the story. “A Million Miles Away” is certainly a decent watch, but don’t be disappointed if you don’t feel like you’ve been rocketed into orbit by the picture’s end.
Common and simplistic, yet well-executed. Its true strength lies in the message of perseverance and self-improvement it conveys, particularly resonating with the children of undocumented immigrants.
A Million Miles Away doesn't do anything out of the ordinary and has a simplistic fabrication about the level you might find in a made-for-TV film, plus an inherent adherence to clichés and stereotypes about Mexicans/Latinos, but Michael Peña and Rosa Salazar does what they can with the material to make it work enough to keep it from becoming a flop but not so much that it will stand out a couple of weeks after its release on streaming.
'A Million Miles Away' is an ordinary biopic that doesn't stand out in any field. The performances are decent, but the story runs through all the clichés of this kind of movie. Of course, the representation it proposes is essential; unfortunately, its approach is too basic to remain attractive.Nevertheless, you have to appreciate the heart everyone put into making this project happen. I just hope director Alejandra Márquez Abella doesn't get stuck in studio films like this one.