Inspired 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 worker 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 Station. With the unwavering support of his hard-working parents, relatives, and teachers, José’s unrelenting drive and determination culminates in the opportunity to achieve his seemingly impossible goal.
Actor Michael Peña (Marvel’s Ant-Man) portrays his role as the NASA flight engineer José Hernández. In the film, José Hernández is a child farmer working somewhere in the fields of California while attending and switching many schools. But one day, he soon grows up to become an astronaut after finding out what the stars are for, located up in the sky. Years later, now as an adult, he works his way up at a national laboratory in California to get the ultimate work opportunity at NASA, only to be rejected eleven times before finally being accepted after several months of training on the things astronauts do.
Aiding by his side is actress Rosa Salazar (Alita: Battle Angel) who portrays Adele, his supportive wife, who dreams of opening up her own Mexican restaurant in the film. Even though it’s a film that features mainly on Michael Peña, Salazar is the real show stealer, carrying her role too excitedly and too serious, providing some moral advice and lessons that needs to be learned towards Peña. And the chemistry between them is well-written as she is the kind of actress who can have tacos or enchiladas at your house or at a Mexican restaurant.
Alejandra Márquez Abella is the director for this film, calling out the shots based on the book of the actual events written by the real astronaut José M. Hernández. If you guys did your research on him, he is now a politician as of present while living with his family in California. Both the acting and cinematography are outstanding, and the story is very inspirational to watch, especially on the third act all the way to the very end. Though some parts of the story, mostly in the first act and almost at the very end, do need some improvements due to having slow burns and script issues. Also, with the film being inspired by true events, it only shows from the character’s childhood to his life-long dream of being an astronaut. There’s nothing more to see afterwards due to the movie’s runtime being two hours long, thus cutting out the good stuff away. When I first saw this movie, I thought it was just a science-fiction movie. It’s not since it’s inspired by a true story.
A Million Miles Away is not that bad, but isn’t exactly the kind of pure science-fiction for anyone. I just thought it had a similar resemblance to The Martian or Interstellar. This movie could have been better if there was a better script, better pacing, and a better understanding of what this two-hour movie has to offer from Amazon Studios. But in my honest opinion, Michael Peña is the only actor I astonishingly see and I think anyone who is a die-hard Michael Peña fan can get their hands on this movie once it blasts off to your living room at your house. A Million Miles Away is a good choice to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and it’s available on Amazon Prime Video, which will be up on Friday.
GRADE: C+
Photo credit: MGM/Amazon Studios
Movies365 by Henry Pham 
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