Space Sweepers

 (Korean: 승리호; RR: Seungriho) is a Korean action sci-fi and fantasy film directed by Jo Sung-hee. The movie follows the crew of a space junk collector ship called The Victory. When they discover a humanoid robot named Dorothy that's known to be a weapon of mass destruction, they get involved in a risky business deal.

In April 2021, Netflix announced that the movie was watched by 26 million subscribers.

Summary
"Chasing after space debris and faraway dreams in year 2092, four misfits unearth explosive secrets during the attempted trade of a wide-eyed humanoid."

- Official Netflix synopsis

Set in 2092, spaceship Victory is one of the many that live off salvaging space debris. Crewed with a genius space pilot Tae-ho(Song Joong-ki), a mysterious ex-space pirate Captain Jang(Kim Tae-ri), an spaceship engineer Tiger Park(Jin Sun-kyu), and a reprogrammed military robot Bubs(Yoo Hai-jin), Spaceship Victory surpasses all other space sweepers. After successfully snatching a crashed space shuttle in the latest debris chase, Victory’s crew find a 7-year-old girl inside. They realize that she’s the humanlike robot wanted by UTS Space Guards, and decide to demand ransom in exchange.

Plot
In the year 2092, Earth has become nearly uninhabitable. The UTS Corporation builds a new orbiting home for humanity that mimics the ecosystem on Earth; however, only an elite few are permitted to ascend and become UTS citizens, while those remaining on Earth breathe polluted air. Many non-citizens from all across the globe survive as space sweepers, collecting space debris floating in Earth's orbit and selling it to the company factory. The film follows a crew of space sweepers and their ship, the Victory.

Victory's crew includes Kim Tae-ho, Tiger Park and Bubs (an android), all led by Captain Jang. Mechanic Tiger Park was a drug baron on Earth, while Bubs, once a soldier, now helps repair the ship and cast the net for space junk while saving up to get a complete skin graft. Jang was one of the child geniuses sponsored by UTS and created several hi-tech inventions for the company but, after discovering how the company works, became a pirate and during assassination attempt on James Sullivan, the CEO of UTS. Her crew was killed while Sullivan survived, resulting in her changing identities and having an eye transplant. Tae-ho, once a child soldier, is on a search for his daughter Su-ni, who was ejected into space after debris collided with the station they were on. His sole aim is to pay the authorities' recovery team to locate her body tracker before she is lost in space forever.

After picking up a car floating in orbit, they discover Dorothy, a robot child, who contains a weapon of mass destruction created by the terrorist group Black Fox. The crew also finds a smartphone in Dorothy's bag with several missed calls from someone named Kang Hyeon-u. They call back, assuming the other party is the Black Fox, they negotiate two million dollars for returning Dorothy. Tae-ho and Tiger carry Dorothy to a nightclub to collect the ransom, but she wanders off. UTS soldiers arrive and start shooting into the crowds, Tiger and Tae-ho locate Dorothy when Soldier 01 zeroes in and shoots at them. Dorothy's eyes change colour and the trio is protected from the blast by a small force field around them. Jang notices the man who came to collect Dorothy calling her Kot-Nim. When the trio makes it back to the ship, Dorothy admits that Kot-Nim is her Korean name. Tae-ho ignores her, thinking she is a robot, while Tiger becomes friendly with her and suggests keeping her. Tae-ho dismisses the idea and goes to set up a call with Kang Hyeon-u to rearrange the exchange.

Later, Bubs is putting makeup on Dorothy and tells her the story of Tae-ho: as a child soldier, he attacked and boarded a ship that carried several fleeing non-citizens, killing them all. He noticed a baby was still alive and adopted the girl. She rekindled his humanity and Tae-ho found himself unable to hurt others resulting in him being dismissed from the force, reduced to a homeless non-citizen. After a year, Tae-ho became desperate and gambled, neglecting Su-ni. She wandered away to find a snack and was blown into space by a debris impact.

A masked man follows Kot-Nim to the toilet in the factory. Her screams alert Tae-ho and Tiger, who rush to save her but are ambushed by a group of masked people. Tiger beats them all and Jang intervenes, discovering they are other space junk collectors working with Black Fox. Their leader, Karum, explains that Black Fox is an environmental group rather than a terrorist organization and that Kot-Nim is not an android but a human child. Born with a congenital disease, her father Kang Hyeon-u injected her with nanobots found in space debris, which not only saved Kot-Nim but also gave her a unique power: she could communicate with other nanobots to heal and protect. Sullivan had used Kot-Nim to terraform Mars. Now he plans to kill Dorothy in a hydrogen bomb explosion since nanobots can only be destroyed by extreme high temperatures. Given the Earth's proximity, the explosion would cause the factory to fall onto the planet, destroying the Earth and making Mars the only viable option for humanity.

The crew decides to unite Kot-Nim with her father and disable the bomb with the help of the Black Foxes, who will locate and bring Dr. Kang to the meeting point. During this, soldiers attack them, being left behind, Tae-ho and Kot-nim manage to flee on the Victory. They enter a space debris field, where nanobots begin to consume their ship. Kot-nim communicates with them and the nanobots disperse. They enter the factory where the meet-up is scheduled, only to be ambushed. The UTS soldiers kill all the Black Foxes and Dr. Kang before kidnapping Kot-Nim. Sullivan gives Tae-ho four million dollars in return for abandoning Kot-Nim. Tae-ho takes the money, while the rest decide to save Kot-Nim. Tae-ho goes to UTS lost and found, giving the money to the UTS officer, and they hand over Su-ni's possessions. In it, Su-ni had written that she wanted to be a good person like her father. This reminds Tae-ho of the promise he made to Su-ni, to be the best man she had ever known. He takes back the money and returns to the ship.

Meanwhile, Sullivan announces the colonisation of Mars. Kot-Nim is strapped to the bomb, but the team frees her; however, Jang discovers that the bomb cannot be defused. It will not only destroy anything in its blast radius but also any nanobots within 5,000 kilometres. The only way Kot-Nim's nanobots (and her life) can be saved is if she is out of range. The team sets off to fly 5,000 km away, but are interrupted by Soldier 01; Tiger fights her and ejects her from the factory. The team sends a message to the rest of the Space Sweepers on the emergency channel, who come to their aid, fighting the attacking troops. While the battle rages, the population of Earth and UTS colonies are shocked to learn of Sullivan's true goals when they hear a leaked recording of him recounting his plan. The Victory is intercepted by Sullivan himself, who tries to fight the crew to get back Kot-Nim. When it seems they have lost the battle, Tiger and Tae-ho manage a final boost that puts the ship just out of the blast range. The crew reveals that Kot-Nim was left safely behind with other Space Sweepers. The Victory had removed the bomb from the core and carried it away, ready to sacrifice their lives to save Earth and Kot-Nim. The bomb explodes, killing Sullivan but Kot-Nim summons the nanobots to protect the Victory, saving the lives of the crew.

In the aftermath of the battle, the UTS publicly apologises for the cover-up of their true goals and promises to help make the Earth more habitable. Kot-Nim is adopted by the crew and, using her powers, enables Tae-Ho to say goodbye to Su-ni, Bubs ends up getting her skin graft. Somedays, Kot-Nim goes to Earth to help make trees, while the rest of Victory continue space sweeping.

Cast and Characters

 * Song Joong-ki as Tae-ho
 * Kim Tae-ri as Captain Jang
 * Jin Sun-kyu as Tiger Park
 * Yoo Hai-jin as Robot
 * Richard Armitage as Sullivan
 * Park Ye-rin as Kot-nim
 * Kim Hyang-gi as Bubs