Passengers

As Passengers opens, we see a massive spacecraft making its way through the stars.  On board, there are over 5,000 paying passengers and around 200 crew all placed under a state of inanimate hibernation in massive pods.  The ship is taking a 120 year journey from an overly-populated Earth to the planet Homestead II, where the passengers and crew will hopefully start a new civilization for humans to inhabit.

A meteor strikes the ship in the opening moments, and this causes a malfunction on the ship itself, which is completely under computer control while the humans are in their sleeping state.  This malfunction causes one of the hibernation pods to open and awaken Jim (Chris Pratt), an engineer.  He finds himself alone in the large, gleaming space structure which seems to have all the comforts of home, but is eerily isolated.  He quickly learns that he is the only person awake.  Even worse, it is only 30 years into the journey to Homestead II, and the others are not expected to awaken for another 90 years.  The only person he can talk to is the ship's computer (which is not much for conversation or for giving information Jim can use), and an android bartender named Arthur (Michael Sheen), who dispenses drinks and listens well, but obviously hasn't been programmed to understand Jim's situation or his fears. 

Jim spends the next year alone, basically biding time with the recreational activities programmed on the ship, trying to explore certain sections that may hold answers for him, and growing a Grizzly Adams-style beard.  The isolation also begins to affect his mental state, leading to thoughts of suicide and hopelessness.  But then, he becomes fixated on a young woman in one of the sleeping pods.  Her name is Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence), and he looks up her information.  She's a writer, heading to Homestead II so she can publish a book about her journey and the new world.  Jim becomes fascinated by the woman, and begins to harbor thoughts about awakening her as well, so that he can meet her.  He is torn by this decision for a long time, but soon makes his move.  He awakens her, and pretends that she has been accidentally awakened, just as he had been.

This is where a lot of people seem to have problems with Passengers.  They see Jim's actions of awakening Aurora as selfish and inexcusable.  The movie does not ignore that fact.  We're not supposed to agree with Jim's decision to awaken her.  But, I also think the movie does a good job of emphasizing that he is not exactly in his right mind when he makes the decision.  He has been alone on the ship for a year by that point, and the isolation and fears he has felt have been eating at him for so long.  It's a fascinating moral dilemma that I wish the movie had focused a little more on.  Instead, the movie goes headfirst into Jim and Aurora exploring a possible relationship, being the only two people awake on the ship.

Regardless, I was still intrigued, and drawn in by the visuals.  The set designers have created a wonderful spacecraft for its lead actors to inhabit, one that seems like it could be plausible at some point in the future.  The technology on the ship has a certain quality to it that seems futuristic, but not so much so that it seems implausible.  It seems like a logical extension of some technology that we have now, such as the little cleaning robots that constantly patrol the floors.  I also liked the chemistry that Pratt and Lawrence have during their scenes.  Their performances help with the fact that Jim and Aurora are not exactly a deeply defined couple, and often seem to be with each other out of necessity.  Of course we understand that.  But then, the movie starts to suggest that there is an actual relationship blooming between them, and it felt just a little bit forced to me.  Not so much that I was taken out of the movie, but enough for me to wish that it would spend a bit more time on it.

However, like a lot of movies, Passengers starts to crumble in the third act.  I'm going to have to be careful with spoilers here, but it starts with the abrupt introduction of a third character portrayed by Laurence Fishburne.  He basically exists for an exposition dump that leads to the third act crisis.  It's about this point that the movie turns contrived.  Again, I don't want to give anything away, but the last half hour or so is nowhere near as intriguing.  Still, what has come before worked well with me, despite a few faults.  I am recommending the film on the basis of the first two acts, which hold some interesting ideas.  True, the movie never quite takes as much advantage of those ideas as it should, but I still found myself interested.  I also liked the film's minimalist approach, making the most of a very small cast and limited setting.

I do have to question the studio's decision to release this the same time as Rogue One has just hit theaters, though.  This one often comes across like a small, independent Sci-Fi film that somehow got an A-List budget and cast.  Maybe if this were a smaller production, it would have solved some of the third act story problems, as the last half seems like it went through some major Studio tampering.  While the first two Acts do have their problems, the movie still managed to work with me.  The third Act caused me to consider writing a very different review, but in the end, I think the stuff that works outweighs the stuff that doesn't.  It's movies like this that are why I never employed a rating system for movies.  Some movies work well for a majority of the time, but fall apart at the end.  I wouldn't know how to rate it.  So, I do my best to sort out my thoughts, and eventually come to a conclusion.

And my conclusion with Passengers is that if you want a minimalist space opera that focuses on character for a majority of the film, and don't mind that it loses its way in the end, you will get enjoyment out of this, as I did.  This movie could have been so much more, but I don't regret seeing it.

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