Passengers (2016)

I love science fiction films. The Star Wars franchise has a near and dear place to my heart, as well as more recent films like Interstellar, The Martian, and Gravity. I love how people are getting really interested in these films again and also that the special effects used on such films are getting really, really, really good. I couldn't even tell that Gravity was using CGI, even though I knew it was.

So, naturally, I was looking forward to Passengers. Chris Pratt is a really solid actor who has charisma like crazy, and Jennifer Lawrence is Jennifer Lawrence. Morten Tyldum also seemed like a good director from the one thing I've seen from him, 2014's Imitation Game. It was a pretty decent biopic with some minor issues, but the visual front was very well-executed, something that I knew this film would need.

And to be fair, the visuals in Passengers are great, and they're probably the best part of the film. The effects are magnificent and blend well with the actors and real parts of the set, adding to the film's tangibility and realism. There's some really cool shots that cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto should be praised for because of their magnificent sense of scale and emotional storytelling, especially early on in the film. On the whole, the aesthetics of Passengers are really, really solid. I love the look of the Avalon, the film's spacecraft, both inside and out.

The acting in Passengers works pretty well too. Chris Pratt is excellent as Jim, an engineer on the Avalon who wakes up 90 years too early on his journey to a planetary colony. In the beginning of the film, he shows a lot of natural responses to his isolation and does a really good job at just being human and not doing too much. Jennifer Lawrence has less to do than she normally does, but she also does a great job making her reactions very human and natural, which for a science fiction film is a great thing to have. Laurence Fishburne and Michael Sheen do a great job supporting the two leads with their respective characters and adding different dimensions to the film.

Passengers encounters problems, however, with its story. It starts off in an incredibly promising way, looking like it might become a "Cast Away in space" sort of deal. The film also gets to deal with some moral issues in its first act that really make the audience think about what's happening on screen. Pratt has to show a lot of range here, and it's because of him that the first act is so gripping. The film's second act steps into more of a romance film with some of that survival and coping still in play, but in my opinion it actually works well to have this kind of tonal shift. Pratt and Lawrence have good chemistry too, so I honestly did not mind that big transition.

It's when Fishburne's character comes onto the scene that we begin to have some issues. The third act of Passengers is a by-the-book sci-fi action thriller that becomes so incredibly predictable that it gets boring. Every beat of the film's climax is more predictable than the last, and that irritates me. This film could have been so much better if it wasn't so predictable, but instead of trying to be great it just ties everything up so perfectly that it loses all sense of realism.

That being said, Passengers does have some good acting from its two leads and stellar visuals from those behind the camera, so it might be worth seeing in a theater if you like those involved or don't care about the somewhat bland climax. It also provokes some thought with the raising of some moral questions; I just wish it dived more into those instead of devolving into a standard sci-fi action flick. It's an OK film, but don't expect the world.

My recommendation: see it in a theater if you like Lawrence and Pratt. Otherwise, you can skip it. 

My grade: 54

Stay tuned for my next post about La La Land, which will be my last full review for films from 2016. I literally cannot wait to share my thoughts on it with you guys.