![]() All that amounts to is Pratt and Lawrence doing their thing, but only Pratt distinguishes himself from previous roles by adding some genuinely understated dramatic chops to his aw-shucks likability. He dreams of building things, she dreams of writing things. Neither do these characters, each so blandly conceived. Michael Sheen’s robot bartender provides some charming dry comic relief with a creepy subtext, suggesting a sophisticated movie that, unfortunately, never materializes. Of course it does get worse, in part because of a betrayal of trust, but also because the red alerts really start to stack up…but not before the narrative has slogged through one act of existential boredom, fears, and anger, followed by a second act of inevitable, perfunctory romancing. The guy is stuck with a hottie and the gal is stuck with a beefcake. For as bad as it is to be doomed to live and die before everyone else arrives at the desired destination, the ship itself is a floating space age utopia. If you’re gonna get trapped in the cold death of space, it might as well be with a couple of sexy people on one heckuva starship.Īnd therein lies part of the problem. Fortunately for us, the two passengers bear a striking resemblance to the two biggest box office stars in the world right now, Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. Two of the passengers wake up 90 years too early, the first of an increasing amount of impossible (allegedly) malfunctions that steadily escalate over a few years. In the future, apparently, everyone’s forgotten about the Titanic.īut even if you shrug your shoulders and just go with it, there ends up being not much to go with. It’s all predicated on the ridiculous basis that a starship carrying thousands of hibernated people for 120 years across space and time to colonize a new planet would have no – and I mean zero – safety precautions in case anything went wrong. Going from Castaway In Space to Sci Fi: A Love Story to a Poseidon Misadventure final stretch, Passengers has an intriguing premise with a compelling ethical dilemma that struggles to know what to do with itself. I’m not even sure that line made the final cut. Worst of all, it never delivers on the hook heard in its trailers, as spoken by star Chris Pratt’s character: “There’s a reason we woke up early.” Apparently, there’s not. ![]() Passengers is a sleek and spectacular piece of science fiction moviemaking that glosses up a story perpetually idling on impulse engines. ![]() Now that we’ve done that, let’s sigh at what we’re actually left with. Let’s take a moment to appreciate the fact that we have an actual honest-to-God original big budget genre movie not based on a pre-existing property or franchise. Proceeds from purchases made through these links go to support this blog. Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael SheenĪvailable to rent through Amazon Video or buy on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K. (for sexuality, nudity, language, and action/peril)
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