Voidance review (2026)
Voidance starts off as a promising indie sci-fi film but eventually gets stuck in a repetitive rut leading to a lackluster payoff.
Alana Toro (Zoe Cunningham) is one step away from completing her training before becoming an ATIC guard. All she has to do is successfully pass a simulated terrorist attack. Alana assures her trainer, Agent Polo (James Cosmo, Troy), she’ll have no trouble, but her overconfidence quickly proves to be unwarranted.
After entering the simulation chamber, Alana quickly assesses the perceived threats after she finds a couple brutally murdered in one of the ship’s numerous bays. Were the filmmakers being intentionally ironic having Alana’s first suspect be a reserved black man (Joshua C Jackson)? Ultimately, Alana finds the real suspects — a pair of zealots — Yavin (Neil Bishop) and Jala (Anna Fraser), who caused the incident she has to solve although one misstep can lead to her failing.
Voidance doesn’t have a huge budget so most of the sets have a certain sameness to them with little distinction from one space to another. Upon finding the murdered couple, Alana’s helpful computer watch tells her she failed. Undeterred, Alana calls for a reset in order to properly crack the simulation.
The gimmick with Voidance that helps it stand out (at least temporarily) is Alana has a countdown indicating how many times she can reset before she fails the test. This gives her some leeway to be reckless and impulsive with her investigation.
Time loop films like Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow and Happy Death Day can stay engaging provided the main character learns from their trial and error and progresses in their attempt to master the intended lesson.
With Voidance, too often it feels like Alana makes the same mistakes over and over without seemingly learning much to pass the test.
MORE:
- The Furious review (2026)
- Masters of the Universe review (2026)
- Star Wars Maul: Shadow Lord – The Dark Lord review S1 E10
- Dynamite Entertainment 6/10/26 – Space Ghost vol 2 12 review
Screenwriter Simon X. Frederick backs away from the more fascinating aspect of Voidance — the other passengers on the ship — to focus on Alana’s continued failures. Frederick sets up some interesting avenues to take the script such as Alana questioning why so many of the passengers are decidedly anti-ATIC, what ATIC could have done to warrant such disdain, why Polo is so insistent on Alana choosing one method to pass the test when it seems like she has various options to succeed.
During the intriguing opening act, Alana eavesdrops on conversations, looks for clues and basically acts like an investigator. This leans more into Cunningham’s strength as a performer as she’s more convincing as a quirky investigator than a gun-wielding agent blasting away at suspects like a typical action hero.
The rest of the ensemble is fine although they’re largely replaying slight variations of the same conversation and aren’t really in position to stand out.
Director Marianna Dean does a capable job working with a smaller budget. Dean doesn’t make the mistake of too many indie sci-fi directors and throw in an excessive amount of unconvincing special effects.
Instead, the sci-fi elements are limited to phasing doors, holograms and stun blast effects. Dean isn’t as nimble in navigating the pacing as Voidance becomes less of a sci-fi mystery and more of the frustrating ways Alana can fail.
Despite a relatively brief runtime of 90 minutes, Voidance feels much longer since it ditches the more compelling mystery angle for a dull, sci-fi action thriller.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Photo Credit: Elli Films
Check out Voidance on Amazon Prime.
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.