Passengers
/"If you live an ordinary life, all you'll have are ordinary stories."
Filmology Rating: 2.33 out of 4
Aboard a ship on a journey to a new home away from Earth, Jim and Aurora (Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence) are woken up from their hibernation pods 90 years too soon.
So I saw this movie a week ago and it has taken me a while to figure out what I wanted to say…. In fact I'm still trying to figure out what exactly I want to say. Well I'm just going to start typing and see where this goes.
I really can’t do a typical review style format for this film without really spoiling this movie for you guys. The things that I have issues with, I really can’t get into without giving away major plot points and spoilers…. This is going to be tricky. Oh! I do have to say that this movie is NOT as bad as Rotten Tomatoes or other critics have made Passengers out to be. While this is not a masterpiece by any means, it is still enjoyable. I had a good viewing experience and I would for sure want to watch this movie again.
Guys, I got it! I think I'm going to make this review relatively short and just give you the non-spoiler bullet points up here and do a spoiler review beneath where you normally see the trailer, Average Man Score, and image citation.
Ok so here it is, Passengers has some really good special effects. That is not really going to be a surprise due to this being a Sci-Fi film and you tend to expect these things. However, there were a few scenes, one in particular, that were done very well. Next, I really liked the chemistry that Pratt and Lawrence had with one another. They honestly weren't given a whole lot in this film but with what they had, they did a great job.
While the special effects were good, Pratt and Lawrence had chemistry (and one other thing that will be discussed down below in the spoiler section) were all fine and dandy, I do believe that this movie won’t really be remembered. While it was enjoyable to watch and I would watch it again, it just doesn’t leave a big enough impact to really cement itself with memorable Sci-fi films that we have had as of late (Gravity, Edge of Tomorrow, Interstellar, Martian, Arrival, etc.)
Alright, that is the brief little review of non-spoilers. I did enjoy Passengers! However after the past week, I just really can’t see myself thinking about this film very often except for this one big reason that I can’t mention up here because it’s a spoiler.
Rating: See It
-Nick
Spoilers
OK, for real, let’s get into it.
So when I say that they woke up 90 years too soon, I meant that Chris Pratt woke up 90 years too soon because his was the only hibernation pod that malfunctioned. This was the part that I liked most about the film and something that I will probably think back on from time to time.
He was alone on the ship for over a year and was thinking about suicide. He didn’t really want to die but he couldn’t go on like this. Solidarity was too strong to withstand so what if he opened up another person’s pod so he could have companionship and someone to be with and maybe even eventually fall in love with? This however would mean that he robbed them of their experience on another planet, took away their free will to choose what they wanted, and essentially gave them a death sentence. This was something that Pratt’s character really struggled with and this to me was really interesting because it made me think about what I would do. This was something that I really liked.
Now there were a few things that I really didn’t like care for or thought that could have been done a lot better. The dialogue was fine and everything but within the story, the characters really don't do much. Granted you are stranded on a ship that does have a lot of entertainment but that will get boring after a year of solidarity and then soon even after Lawrence is awake, but still. I think the writer figured this out when trying to think of the conclusion and grand finale because it does seem a little convenient and hurried. While I didn’t hate the ending or anything, I just think that it was somewhat disappointing. The thing is, I really don't know what else they could have done differently to make it better.
To make the movie better as a whole, I think the order of event should have been differently. The movie opens up with Pratt waking up and realizing that he is all alone. Then they show his progression into madness and despair and his contemplation of whether or not to wake Lawrence up or not. I think that the movie should have opened up with both of them “waking up together” and trying to figure out what is going on. Then, in the second or beginning third act when ANOTHER BIG SPOILER ALERT the captain of the ship wakes up (Played by Laurence Fishburne) and inspects their pods to discover that Pratt and his were damaged but Lawrence’s pod was just fine and opened manually, NOW we get the big reveal that Pratt had been awake for a year prior to them “waking up together”. I feel like this would have been a bigger HOLY CRAP or WTF or something. I think that this big reveal would have been something that would have made this movie a little bit more memorable and this is something that doesn’t really chance the story and yet changes everything. IDK, that it just my opinion and I know others who have disagreed with me on that.
So these are few of my spoiler thoughts. Overall, I really do think Passengers is worth the watch. It doesn’t deserve the amount of hate that it has been getting. See it if you’d like, if not, there are plenty of other great movies out right now to go see.
-Nick