Passengers

I was intrigued by Passengers when I first read the synopsis for it on the annual Black List, a list of the best yet unproduced screenplays that is released each year. I was thrilled to hear it was finally getting made. But then a curious thing happened, the trailers were covering up a significant plot point in the film. It's an important plot detail that I will be including in my summary below, so if you want to go into the film knowing as little as possible, by all means go. It's a terrific and suspenseful sci-fi thrill ride with a nice dose of romance on the side. For those that want to know a little more first, by all means read ahead.

Jim Preston (played by Chris Pratt) is a mechanical engineer traveling on the galactic spaceship Aurora on it's way to an uninhabited planet as a colonist along with 5000 other people. As the ship travels through an asteroid belt, it triggers a malfunction and Jim's suspended animation pod turns off, waking him up. He is shocked to not only find himself the only person awake on a giant spaceship but that he was woken up 90 years too early, meaning he will effectively spend the entirety of his life on the ship completely alone, except for the android bartender, Arthur (played by Michael Shannon). Furthermore, as a passenger on the ship and not a member of the crew, he has no access to the command controls of the ship to try put himself back in stasis or get help. As he spends more and more time alone, his sanity begins to slip until he discovers the pod of Aurora Lane (played by Jennifer Lawrence). He looks her up on the ship's computer and learns about her, reads her writings (she's an author) and slowly falls for her. He begins to think about waking her up so he didn't have to be alone. He's knows it's wrong and wrestles with his conscience until the sheer loneliness makes him cave and he does it. Disoriented, he initially leads her to believe that her pod malfunctioned too, part of the growing number of malfunctions on the ship. But it's only a matter of time before she finds out. In the meantime, the two begin to bond and develop feelings for one another. But as the problems on the ship grow to become critical, it becomes clear the two are going to have to work together to fix the ship and ensure it reaches it's destination. 

The main point of contention for people with this film is going to be the fact that Jim deliberately wakes up Aurora, rather than both of them waking up by accident as the trailers lead you to believe. And I will concede, it is a total dick move. He is essentially robbing her of the life she chose without her consent. At the same time, you can see why he did it. He spends an entire year on the ship completely alone and comes damn close to killing himself. It's not an excuse, I know, but it does show why he does it and that he probably wasn't in the head space to make a good decision, even if he does wrestle with it for quite some time beforehand. I know some people are going to hate this movie on those grounds alone and that's fine. I totally get it. The hero of all your films have to be 100% likeable all the time and can't have any flaws or make any mistakes. But I actually liked the movie more for it. Jim is flawed. He makes a selfish decision. He doesn't wake her up because she's important, like the ship's designer or a crew member or something. He does it because after looking her up on the ship's computer and reading her writing he fell for her. It's that plain and simple. And her blind rage at him when she finds out (because of course she finds out) is completely justified. 

The film was directed by Morten Tyldum from a script by Jon Spaights. The film gives us a unique take on a desert island scenario, with a largely limited cast that is mostly focused on our two main characters for much of the run time. But the film has enough drama and story to keep the film interesting with just the two characters, along with the android Arthur. Jon Spaights manages to create a unique vision of the distant future that also feels tangible and possible. The technological advances seen in the film seem plausible even if there are some more out there elements such as the shipboard swimming pool, which even proves to be nearly fatal for one of the characters when the ship suddenly loses it's artificial gravity and the water (and swimmer) no longer remain in the pool. Still, because the setting of the story seems real, it makes the plight of our main characters that much more palpable as well. The effects work is well done throughout the film as is the production design. The main "public" areas of the ship are clearly based on cruise liners (the passengers would spend roughly four months aboard the ship before their arrival at their destination) but given a futuristic upgrade as well.  

The performances in the film are strong considering that the bulk of the film falls on the shoulders of the two lead actors. Chris Pratt does a great job as Jim, show his progression as a character quite well throughout the ordeal as he first realizes he's alone on the ship, his initial panic and desperation, moving into acceptance as he begins to take ownership of the surroundings, enjoying the more luxurious areas of the ship he otherwise wouldn't have had access to. But the thrill wears off as loneliness sets in and Pratt does a great job showing the growing desperation Jim feels and his struggle as well as his deep need to someone to be with. Jennifer Lawrence does well with what she has, but her part isn't quite as well developed as Pratt's character, although she does have some great moments of her own. She and Chris Pratt do share some decent chemistry as well, which helps make the second act of the film work, even as we as the audience are waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

Overall, Passengers is an interesting blending of survival drama, romance and thriller all into one film and it for the most part worked for me. At times the film could be predictable but it still kept my interest throughout. Other people have called the film slow, but I felt it kept a good pace throughout, even though the very end of the film seemed a bit rushed. It's not perfect, but it had a little bit more depth to it than people might think. The moral conflict at the center of it was a nice touch when the filmmakers could have so easily taken the easy way out and I appreciated that. It's not a perfect film, but it was one that entertained me, intrigued me and left me thinking about it for some time afterwards. So, there is that at least.