Film: Passengers

Well, RTÉ did me a favour this evening - I never saw Passengers, but was always interested! So, I made sure we stuck to that this evening, despite my mother's dislike of SciFi, which she thinks is silly..

I remember this getting muted reviews at the time of release, but honestly, I thought it was excellent. The story is pretty simple - Chris Pratt (I can never tell them apart, but there are a number of similarly good-looking Chrises, young, buff American actors who take on undemanding roles..) plays a passenger on a colonisation trip to a faraway planet. It takes so long that they're all put into hibernation - unfortunately, his hibernation pod malfunctions and wakens him early. (And yes, I loved the automated message, from the information terminal, that tells him that that never happens.) The ship still has 90 years to go to its destination - and yes, he's the only one awake. Well sheeit, what would you do?!

He spends a year and a bit, all on his own - save for the robot barman. He goes feral - honestly, the mess he makes of the place! He's at the end of his tether - and just at that point, he's wandering through the hibernation bay, and spots Jennifer Lawrence, happily snoozing in her pod. Liking the look of her, he accesses her profile - decides they're soulmates, dithers for a bit, then in what might be described as the ultimate Sleeping Beauty story, he.. wakes her up! Well now, you can imagine her reaction upon finding out that he did it deliberately.. The only other person who appears live is Laurence Fishburne, whose pod malfunction a bit later gives them a crew member to talk to, so they can get access to the bridge and try to keep the ship on course.

Beautiful imagery, as you can expect from any decent SciFi film. The various technological blips provide entertainment along the way, but don't ultimately go anywhere. But I loved the ship design (apart from things not working), the little jibes against corporate culture are well aimed, and it does what all good SciFi does - removes us from conventional society, and places us in a streamlined environment, then asks us a philosophical question. Here, that is simply - what's important in life. Might not be the world's most classic film, but I thought it was very stylish, beautifully shot, and most enjoyable.

Results now out for tomorrow's London Literary Walks quiz. Tomorrow evening, Up in the Cheap Seats has yet another event organised - this time, a YouTube viewing of the opera, La Giaconda. (Sorry, that link starts a bit into it - but I can't figure out how to correct that. And I advise you to click the subtitles button if you don't speak the lingo!) As usual, too late in the evening for me to attend - but I'll just watch earlier.