This is not a cinematic journey I’d recommend taking.
A spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet and transporting thousands of people has a malfunction in its sleep chambers. As a result, two passengers are awakened 90 years early.
This movie had so much potential and I really wanted to like it. However, when early reviews from the US indicated it wasn’t great I set my expectations a little lower. The chemistry between Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence cannot be flawed, they work really well together. Laurence Fishburne is also strong, but Michael Sheen is the true stand-out. They couldn’t have picked a better cast, though at times Lawrence’s performance falls just a little flat.
What ends up letting the film down is the poor script. The premise was great, but its realisation is abysmal. The opening 20 minutes set it up to be great, I was engrossed, but as the movie progressed the logic became weaker and the finale was plain stupid. There are actually aspects of this film that contradict themselves.
In contrast to the writing the film looks and sounds great. The visual effects team have created a masterpiece and the face that the first couple of minutes feature no dialogue serves to demonstrate the amazing scenery.
Overall it’s a weak popcorn flick at best and it’s really only held together by the strength of the leading actors.
2 Stars
Review by Benjamin Maio Mackay
Screening courtesy of Roadshow Entertainment
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