Today’s quick review: Passengers. Thirty years into a century-long journey through space, a computer malfunction wakes Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) from hibernation. Trapped on a spaceship with no one to talk to and no way to get back to sleep, Jim struggles with the realization that he’ll die before he reaches his destination. In a moment of weakness, he wakes up Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence), a fellow passenger, to keep him company.
Passengers is a science fiction romance about a pair of colonists stranded alone on a ship meant to take them to a new world. Jim and Aurora fall in love with one another as they try to find a way to live with their situation. But Jim’s secret, the life he took from her by waking her up, threatens to drive them apart. Passengers features an interesting setup and toys with some clever ideas, but it ultimately falls short of its full potential.
Passengers paints a unique portrait of the future. The colony ship serves not only as transportation but as a luxurious cruise ship for its passengers, one that Jim and Aurora have full access to. But for all the ship’s futuristic glamor, it’s still a prison for Jim and Aurora. They have the resources they need to live in style but not to actually solve their predicament, and their attempts to cope with this fact make up most of the movie’s drama.
Passengers bounces back and forth between comedy and drama. Jim’s idle diversions, his romance with Aurora, and his conversations with Arthur (Michael Sheen), the ship’s robotic bartender, inject the movie with some levity. But the premise is fundamentally dramatic, and the moral ramifications of Jim’s choice to wake Aurora are explored in full. There’s also a pinch of danger as the ship’s systems begin to decay even further.
The problem with Passengers is a subtle one: it never quite figures out how to fit its pieces together. The romance, the humor, the moral dilemma, and the mystery of what’s happening to the ship are all fine on their own, but the whole is no greater than the sum of its parts. The movie misses several opportunities to make its emotional beats hit harder. The mistakes aren’t glaring, but they rob Passengers of the full dramatic impact it could have had.
Passengers is a decent pick for those interested in the romantic side of the science fiction genre. The movie has a good balance of speculation, humor, emotion, and peril, and its setup is a fruitful one. But it doesn’t specialize enough to make full use of its setup. Those hoping for a timeless romance, visionary sci-fi, or heavy thrills will want to steer clear. Those willing to meet Passengers on its own terms should give it a shot.
For a science fiction horror movie with a similar setup, try Pandorum. For a similar look at the future of space travel, try WALL-E. For a science fiction drama about the isolation of space, try Moon. For an emotionally wrenching journey to the stars, try Interstellar.
7.0 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 to 7.0 for a creative premise, a nice tonal mix, and a few minor missteps.