This Supercut Of Outer Space In Movies Is Ridiculously Beautiful
Sometimes all it takes is walking outside on a clear night to appreciate the endless depth of space above us. But then other times, it takes a superbly crafted supercut video mashing together some of cinema’s greatest trips through the cosmos. Cue this up on the biggest screen you’ve got and space out.
Max Shishkin, a video editor with an eye for things both beautiful and surreal, created this video that brings together some of the most iconic shots in science fiction. (Or at least space fiction, since some people choose to sub-label things.) And rather than just string scenes together, he only uses a second of footage at a time, set to Hans Zimmer’s “Mountains” track from the Interstellar score. The overall effect is quite hypnotic.
It all begins with lovely shots of planets, moons, and suns, taken from films such as Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey, and then we get a longer section devoted to the myriad spacecraft that Hollywood directors and visual artists have put together over the years. We get to see the Nostromo, the USS Enterprise, Elysium‘s utopia, and Europa Report‘s craft Europa One, to name but a small few.
Things then get more human as we see a series of astronauts leaving their crafts, floating out into the vast emptiness. It isn’t long then before trouble kicks in and we get a bunch of astronauts experiencing mayhem. This entire section could have just been Gravity, really, but there are many more. Even Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain makes an appearance. Other films used in the video include Sunshine, Event Horizon, Guardians of the Galaxy, both versions of Solaris, Lockout, and more. Basically any non-cheapo movie that had a great space shot.
If I can complain about anything, it’s the use of Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night,” as dictated by Sir Anthony Hopkins. I can’t knock the reading itself, mind you, but anybody who watched Interstellar almost certainly grew sick to death of this poem by the end, as it accounts for around 80% of Michael Caine’s dialogue. Still, the words are powerful, which is why Christopher Nolan used them a zillion times.
Speaking of The Fountain, check out another one of Shishkin’s videos below, which is called “The Tree of Life.” It’s equally mesmerizing.
Are there any memorable cinematic space shots that you think are missing from the video?
