Review: 'Voyagers' is a teen-driven science-fiction parable that never really gets off the ground

As slick and as antiseptic as the spaceship where it all happens, the science-fiction parable “Voyagers” has a lot of big ideas but none of the emotional heft needed to make those ideas resonate.

Starting in 2063, scientists have found a new Earth-like planet that could be humanity’s last chance for survival — though there’s little evidence shown of our current planet’s looming apocalypse other than the furrowed looks given by one scientist, Richard (Colin Farrell). Richard leads a plan to raise a crew, from in vitro, that will begin the 86-year journey to the new planet and sire the second and third generations that will finish the trip. When the children are about 11 or so, they take off in their spaceship, with Richard as their teacher and leader.

Ten years later, Richard is in charge of a crew of 30 teen-agers, whose emotions and hormones are kept in check using a daily drug called The Blue. When two bright boys, Christopher (Tye Sheridan, from “Ready Player One”) and Zac (Fionn Whitehead, from “Dunkirk”), figure out they’re all being drugged into docile worker bees, and decide to stop taking The Blue. Soon they’re getting rebellious and aggressive, with much of that alpha-male energy directed at the ship’s teen medical officer, Sela (Lily-Rose Depp).

Then something bad happens to Richard, and the crew votes Christopher as the new leader — which rankles Zac, and begins a power struggle that’s somewhere between the U.S. Capitol insurrection and “Lord of the Flies.”

Writer-director Neil Burger (“Limitless,” “Divergent”) expertly sets the table for this science-fiction parable about the seductive nature of power, and what happens when libidinous teens are given free rein to follow their impulses. The early scenes with Farrell are touching, as Richard labors to keep everything under control while practically acknowledging how impossible that task is.

But once Farrell is out of the picture, the movie sputters to find a new groove. It’s as if the actors are still under the influence of The Blue, barely being expressive when the story calls for heightened emotions. Even with a talented cast of mostly fresh faces — the most recognizable is Isaach Hempstead Wright, Bran Stark from “Game of Thrones” — Burger can’t propel “Voyagers” to reach escape velocity.

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‘Voyagers’

★★1/2

Opens Friday, April 9, in theaters where open. Rated PG-13 for violence, some strong sexuality, bloody images, a sexual assault and brief strong language. Running time: 108 minutes.