Good Night Oppy (2022)

Good Night Oppy review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

In 2003, NASA sent two rovers to Mars to document its surface and search for signs of life. The mission was expected to last around 90 days, given the possibilities of the mission. What began as three months soon turned into many, many years of groundbreaking exploration. Such a remarkable point in the planetary exploration of our solar system is giving a lovingly crafted documentary.

The two rovers sent were dubbed Spirit and Opportunity. While Spirit got the rougher job and had the most troubles, Opportunity would become the real champion of Mars. Her mission is recreated in stunningly accurate CGI to give a greater glimpse of what she might’ve seen on the surface. While she did send back plenty of photos and data, it’s nice to have this recreation present to give the rover more character. It also helps that rover, voiced by Angela Bassett, provides the narration for much of the mission.

But it’s not just a narrative crafted from archival footage in a manner that tries to bring character to animals in so many nature documentaries. There are plenty of interviews from the many NASA scientists who worked on this project for over a decade. We get to see every stage that led to this exploration development, starting from the initial proposal and ending with Opportunity’s final selfie on Mars. The scientists speak about the trials and tribulations that came with the mission, going over the joys and anxieties of such a project.

As it turns out, there was so much to worry about with this mission. The launch was nailbiting as the scientists crossed their fingers and kept repeating, “No firecracker.” The long voyage ran into problems when solar flares threatened to shut down the systems of both rovers. The crew must’ve been on the edge of their seats when awaiting a signal after the rovers landed. Every triumph comes with a huge sigh of relief that nothing broke and the mission is still on for the rovers.

There’s a decently all-encompassing perspective for this project. The scientists speak about both the innards of the mission itself as well as their inspirations for pursuing a career at NASA, no doubt placed for some young folks to get inspired. Late-night talk shows are briefly addressed how they read NASA’s successes and failures. Rovers take on a cute nature that gains the eyes of the public. It’s hard not to be won over by their big eyes. The spirits are kept up at NASA with a tradition of playing wake-up music, giving the film a more exciting soundtrack.

The film focuses most of its running time on Oppy's specifics and mission. It’s a smart call considering younger audiences will be far more interested in how the rovers take pictures or how they drive their way out of a hole. The dicing up of the footage works well as the film starts with Oppy and then answers intriguing questions like how the rover is piloted and how it takes pictures. It makes for a fascinating journey of seeing how everything comes together and reveals more about our galaxy.

Good Night Oppy succeeds at being more than just another promo video for NASA space missions, although it does kinda get that job done. It also tells a compelling story of one rover that defied all odds and went on for many years to accomplish so much on Mars. That’s a true-life inspiration tale that’s worth telling.