Review: Passengers (2016)

4th February 2017

Dir. Morten Tyldum

A voyage to…somewhere.

Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence struggle to breathe this far out in space. The two actors were a good choice for many reasons – bums on seats, star factor and genuine talent – however the script and the story did not match their normal level of excellence. Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) wakes up 89 years too early on the voyage to Homestead II, part of the Colonised World (humans have clearly been working hard to secure their future in the aftermath of the Trump Wars of the previous century) and spends a year in painful isolation aboard the ship. As good as Pratt is, he didn’t quite secure the deep emotional turbulence required for this performance – his choice to wake up Aurora Lane (Lawrence), a journalist from NYC, seemed more creepy than desperate, more written than organic. Lawrence was the star of the film – her arc was deeply troubled and moving to watch, however the choices her character makes in the script, particularly towards the end, were contrived and frustrating compared to how strong Lawrence portrayed this intelligent, capable woman.

The visual effects were the best part of the film – the swimming pool jutting out of the ship in to open space was an amazing design and lovely to watch in a beautiful scenic wide shot. The anti-gravity sequence was also visually remarkable – however unfortunately it didn’t serve to improve the film and was clearly only there because the budget allowed it to be. If the director’s vision was a little more artistically precise, the visual conveyance of isolation and betrayal would have served well on a lonely, deep space trip such as this. Sadly, the shots were all elementary and personality-free. If you’re a passenger on this trip you might want to return your ticket.

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