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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film review
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
Running time: 109 mins
Starring: Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel, Anna Chancellor, Bill Nighy, John Malkovich, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Helen Mirren
The words 'highly anticipated' barely do justice to the big screen adaptation of Douglas Adams' best-selling book. With a recent radio broadcast of the original series gaining an audience of over one million, it's clear that there are legions of people for whom HHGG is something of a sacred text. The Hollywood realisation has brought the inevitable worries of how faithful the film would be to the book but those holding their breath can rest assured: this is one of the funniest films of the year and captures Adams' cosmic quirkiness perfectly. Hardcore fans may grumble at one or two omissions and changes (when does this not happen?), but they can confidently take with them any friends or family who know nothing about the source material and guarantee everyone a good time.
One of the great things about Garth Jennings' film is its resolute Britishness. Admittedly American stars are drafted in for their perceived box office value (Sam Rockwell as the Universal President Zaphod Beeblebrox, rapper Mos Def as Ford Prefect and Zooey Deschanel as Trillian), but the rest of the cast give the film a uniquely British feel and serve Adams' and co-writer Karey Kirkpatrick's script perfectly. A prologue demonstrates this perfectly, with the humble Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) desperately trying to prevent his house from being demolished and eventually taking refuge in the local pub where his best friend Ford is having three last pints before the end of the world.
Jennings isn't afraid to visualise some of the greatest challenges set by Adams and, along with his art department, comes up trumps every time. The subsequent destruction of earth by a fleet of Vogon spaceships is a special effects triumph and Arthur's unlikely adventure is full of treats: the guide itself, which pops up intermittently to explain some of the universe's stranger kinks (the creation of the point-of-view gun being a particular highlight) and which is sublimely voiced by Stephen Fry; Zaphod's flying teapot that is the Heart of Gold spaceship, and the detailed Vogon world along with its extraordinarily-rendered inhabitants being just three examples.
Fortunately the images don't outweigh the words, and the gag factor is both frequent and usually on the mark. So are the cast, who display an energy and love of the project. Rockwell's megalomaniac Zaphod could overshadow each scene he is in but he doesn't. Mos Def gives us a deadpan Ford, and Freeman's everyman nature is just right for the difficult central role. Bill Nighy nearly steals the show with a late appearance as planet developer Slartibartfast, but that award goes to Alan Rickman and Warwick Davis for their combined performance as Marvin, the permanently depressed robot who gets a bigger laugh every time he is on screen.
Although the pace does drop once or twice, it's forgivable. There's more than a touch of The Fifth Element and Monty Python floating around in this new universe, but it also has a huge amount of mindboggling originality. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy looks destined to become at least a cult classic and should easily win over a new generation of fans to the late Adams' work. Only the most mean-spirited could find too much to grumble about.
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