Random Quest

Colin is a research scientist who is working at a nuclear reactor as part of a team trying to simulate a black hole. The experiment goes wrong and the next thing he knows, Colin wakes up in bed in a white room in a strange house. Next thing he knows his "wife" has come home and he is dealing with calls from people he does not know. The few he does recognise seem to not know him in the way that that he thinks he knows them. Although it is a jump to get there, Colin concludes that the black hole experiment has forced him into a parallel universe and that his alternative has gone somewhere else. While this mystifies him, Colin also enjoys his new life and starts to build on it.

I'll be honest and say that when I read about parallel universes and jumping around between them I had expected more from it than this film delivered in the sci-fi realm. It doesn't really explore the concept from the sci-fi point of view but it does do it from a character point of view. This side takes the form of a sort of romantic plot where Colin tries to build a life in his parallel world while also figuring out what has actually happened. It is not as fascinating as it should have been though and discussions over the theory are mostly superficial and not followed through. What it does do well though is give interesting characters and a structure that suggests more mystery than there actually is. The ending is a "nice" conclusion but it is not that clever or impacting The writing does do a good job of building the characters and they are brought out well. West takes the lead pretty well and seems more comfortable with the story inside his character's head than the sci-fi element. Parkes is good in support but it was Ashfield's turn that made the emotional core of the story work – she was convincing even as her character changed. As director Watson does a good job of it and the locations were well chosen and delivered (how much for that house?! Probably too much…).

Overall though I did struggle to overcome the disappointment that the central sci-fi concept was not worked for more benefit. The relationship side of it did provide interest but it was not quite enough on its own and I would have appreciated more of the sci-fi worked into it; as it was it could easily have lost the parallel world aspect and still worked as a story about marriage being rebuilt.