December 24, 2016 -- Classic science fiction has to do with an engineering problem that needs to be solved, and this story fits into that mold, but there is also romance, loneliness and desperation in the mix as well.

Jim Preston (played by Chris Pratt of “Guardians of the Galaxy”) wakes up on a spaceship headed to a new extrasolar colony planet only to find out that everybody else is still in suspended animation. A malfunction in his hypersleep pod has woken him up 90 years too early.

Preston, who is a mechanic, finds out that he cannot get back in his pod and go into hibernation again. He also cannot access the command deck. There is nothing he can do. He will die alone on this ship, unless he wakes up another passenger to keep him company.

Preston faces this dilemma alone, but he does try to discuss it with an android bartender, Arthur (played by Michael Sheen of “Nocturnal Animals”) over drinks. Preston is gradually losing his mind from the loneliness and desperation of his situation.

Eventually, a couple of more people awaken, another passenger, Aurora Lane (played by Jennifer Lawrence of “X-Men: Apocalypse”) along with a crewman, Gus Mancuso (Laurence Fishburne of “Man of Steel”). The three discover there is a serious malfunction on the automated spaceship which threatens to destroy them and over 5,000 other passengers and crew on board.

They don't have time to awaken more people. This is a problem that has to be solved immediately. There is no time to spare. The film does a good job of portraying Preston's dilemma and the romance that develops between him and Aurora. There is an interesting dynamic between Preston, Aurora and the android, Arthur. The android bartender has a mix of robotic functions, along with a limited form of self-aware artificial intelligence. Arthur at times seems like he is capable of almost human emotions and interactions.

Gus Mancuso has a brief, but important part in this story, since, as a high-ranking crewman he alone can access the command functions on the ship. Without him, repairs on the ship would be impossible. His character constitutes a dilemma in the story which could have been dealt with differently than it was.

This film suffers from the same problem faced by other films which have such a tiny cast of characters. This limits the human interactions. There is good chemistry between Preston and Aurora, though, and their characters, along with Mancuso's, are believable. It takes a long time for the action to get going, but eventually it does. This film rates a B.

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