Watched in 2D, in hindsight would go for 3D

Rating: 10/10 (15 January 2017)

There might be a spoiler or two in this review. This is more of a sci-fi of the OST / TNG genre, than a romance. The science is sparse but solid enough for Hollywood. The ship is traveling at 0.5c powered by nuclear fusion to an earth-like planet 250 or so light years away, spinning on a front to back axis as it goes, to create artificial gravity which gets wonky when using elevators in certain directions (understandable). It is largely autonomous with complex AI but tasteful and believable. I found myself pondering the ship, software and hardware, as much as the emotions and decisions of the characters from beginning to end. The human story is two-scale. One story is that of human migration, corporations, species propagation through the galaxy, etc. It is a story you have to read into yourself, and certain dialogues through the movie will nudge you in that direction. The other human story is that of our vulnerabilities, forgiveness, sacrifice, and unspoken existential questions that again you have to read into. For example, the scene at the end where he says out loud in two sentences the things he would have done for her if they had both met in saner circumstances on the new planet.. could be mistaken as a kitschy Titanic-esque monologue, but their eyes are almost willing these imaginary situations to life, even if in their minds for a brief moment, before he dies. They live an entire life in those few seconds, and the primal human need for relationships to give our very existence any meaning whatsoever, comes forth. These are dialogues and scenes that cannot be truly enjoyed or understood by the less wise, and I was surprised by the quality of story telling, including the apparently unforgivable fallibilities of humans, and a specific decision made by one of the characters. The human story on both scales was truly compelling, and the future believable. I mention OST/ TNG but this was original in its own right.