A space movie that raises interesting ethical issues

MOVIES set in outer space have been de rigueur in recent years, and their narratives typically have something in common: human beings in distress. If it's not one thing, like being stranded in space (Gravity, 2013) or on a distant planet (The Martian, 2015), it's another, like having to locate a new home for the human race (Interstellar, 2014).

This year's entry in the sci-fi space stakes is a film about an ultra-long trip undertaken by an interplanetary traveller who's lost and alone despite being on a spaceship with 5,000 people on board. Instead of boldly going where no man has gone before, Passengers is about journeying to a place where lots of people have already been.

Since earth is overpriced and overrated, life on a faraway colony seems like an attractive alternative. The only snag is that travelling there aboard the Starship Avalon takes 120 years. Thanks to advances in medical science, the price of a ticket includes a high-tech sleeping pod and a long session in suspended animation, with passengers woken up a few months from their destination: a cozy development named Homestead II where - like the bar in Cheers - everybody knows your name.