Space Sweepers is an enjoyable outer space romp with a fun, adventurous spirit and a surprising amount of ambition (if also a little over the top and noisy). It’s a South Korean film with a big budget, some pretty snazzy sci-fi ideas, almost too many special effects (mostly good, sometimes less so), and a surprising amount of heart and character.

Set in orbit around a dying Earth where mega corporations have set up massive colonies and factories to save a select number of humans, the film stars a team of five space sweepers who spend their days cleaning up the garbage and debris left behind by all the orbiting platforms and ships. One day they discover a robot in the shape of a little girl who the authorities and terrorists want because she’s actually a walking bomb. Our band of space rogues have to figure out how to make a profit on the situation, survive, and possibly even save the planet.

After a rocky opening with some dodgy VFX and waaaay too much hyperactive energy, I was getting ready to write this off as overproduced junk. But it settled down into a surprising film that actually gave its cast of characters backstory and time to breath. The lynchpin is often the little girl and the relationship she forms with the heroes… and it works. But mostly its impressive that the film bothered to try to have heart at all when its so otherwise engaged in big noisy action set pieces and explosions. Maybe that explains the 2+ hour runtime… but good on them for not editing out all the humanity.

If you are the kind of person who digs a little crazy science fiction action in an ambitious, noisy space opera, this movie will probably work for you. I doubt non-genre fans will get much out of it though… but if they give it a shot, they might find the character interactions appealing (if the rest of it isn’t too exhausting). A good, ambitious effort.

Score: 82