Cast: Martin Freeman (Arthur Dent), Ford Prefect (Mos Def), Sam Rockwell (Zaphod Beeblebrox), Zooey Deschanel (Trillian) Warwick Davis (Marvin), Alan Rickman (Voice of Marvin), Stephen Fry (Narrator)
Director: Garth Jennings
Genre: Sci-Fi/ Comedy
The most annoying thing in the world aside from horrific poetry, or odds that are always against you, is of course the end the world. Not just any kind of global hiatus, rather, the kind that would occur without any warning. I’m referring to a hiatus that starts with a simple, instantaneous explosion without any time for someone to at least finish a task that might be at hand. Some might argue that it couldn't be the “most annoying thing in the world” as such an event would relieve not only anyone, but everyone of the stress and bother of having to start all things over again. If so, then maybe the most annoying and bothersome thing known to man other than horrific poetry, or stepping in gum, or finding out your out of milk after you poured yourself a bowl of cereal, is undiscovered. Then I suppose that the end of the world wouldn't be much of a bother to anyone, really. I mean we would fret about it and try to finish our business as best we could, but who would profit really? The earth would be over. No one would be left to wish such and such a thing would have been done, or so and so had been told this or that. It would just be left to memory...and no memories would be left anyhow. So, as the movie suggests, all we would have to worry about is sitting back and letting the world dissolve around us. The world blowing up is still certainly annoying to think about. Who can argue that? Bloody pain in the rear, the end of time is! It's an event that just will not come at a convenient and suitable time.
I thought this movie might bring an end to my imaginative world as I contemplated watching this or not. Curiosity got the best of me which is why I am reviewing it. I had heard various things about the book by Douglas Adams, which I never read, but never could grasp what it was all about. The movie begins with two simple messages. The world will end and “don’t panic”. So, I figured the movie knew what it was talking about. I didn't panic although the movie did open trying to convince me that I should trust dolphins as humans are supposedly the third most intelligent animal on earth. I’ll trust them to the ends of the earth, whenever that happens!
This movie was original in the realm of sci-fi. I heard the book was on the anti-religious side, and maybe it was. I did get a bit of that old fashioned anti-organized religion sentiment in this flicker of entertainment. Still, it was difficult to determine the distaste for organized religion with the mere social mockery of the picture. *Mumbles of uncertainty.
The world has been inconveniently demolished by a bunch of unemotional and unreliable Volgans who needed the earth’s occupied space for a hyperspace express route. How frustrating! Of all the areas for earth to occupy! So, earth needs to go. In the plus column, two people actually survive the end of the world. What are the odds? Maybe they're similar to the odds of being rescued should you ever find yourself floating aimlessly in the infinite vacuum of space?
The day before the end of the world, Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) attended a fancy dress party where he totally blew it with a nice girl named Trisha (Zooey Deschanel)- (I can totally relate! I’ll save my own sob stories for another blog). Suffering from major setback as Trisha ended up running off with a weirdo who claimed to be from a different planet, Arthur finds himself contending with the impending doom of a construction company that wants to tear his house down to make room for a bypass. All problems gets worse as his friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def), who turns out is also from another planet, warns him that earth actually has 20 minutes of existence left as the Volgan destructor fleet are approaching. Fortunately, in the last few seconds (literally), Ford and Arthur hitch a ride with the Volgans. Earth is history and it appears Arthur is the only survivor of earth. When the Volgans find them and kick them off, they end up getting rescued by complete improbability by a ship called “Heart of Gold”. It turns out that Trish is onboard the ship as is the weirdo she left the party with. The weirdo turns out to be Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell) who is president of the galaxy. Zaphod apparently kidnapped himself and stole the ship in search of the greatest computer designed by the greatest of all thinkers- Deep Thought. All the while he's trying to avoid the Volgans who are trying to rescue the president from his kidnapper. Since he is the kidnapper, he faces charges of kidnapping. This movie is a loose comedy with a deep meaning- the meaning is in there someplace. Though it was on the silly side, the social commentary was original. It wants the audience to take it seriously while not taking it seriously.
I can only see fans of the book appreciating the film. Otherwise, it was only worth watching for the jokes, and that's about it. The ending was stupid. I can't phrase it any other way. Just stupid!
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