Acting: 8/10
Writing/Plot: 6/10
Directing: 8/10
Production: 8/10
“Audiences are harder to please if you’re just giving them special effects…but they’re easy to please if it’s a good story.” – Steven Spielberg
Passengers, directed by Morten Tyldum with a budget of $110 million, is a convoluted love story between Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) and Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence). Both Preston and Lane are in medically induced hibernation aboard The Starship Avalon – an enormous passenger ship on course to Homestead II, a new planet being colonised by humans due to earth’s overpopulation and pollution (disclaimer: Wall-E doesn’t make an appearance).
Despite their hibernation pods being ‘flawless’, both Preston and Lane are awoken from their slumber, 90 years too early. With the distress of discovering their faith, the star-crossed lovers must come to terms with their new lives. But it gets worse. As the film develops, the pair soon realise something is very wrong with Avalon, and must work together against the odds to save the lives of their fellow 5,000 passengers, totally oblivious to their surroundings.
Romance and Science fiction are genres rarely mixed. So straight off the bat, you can’t fault the ambition. The execution was also admirable. With the potential for a two-and-a-half hour CGI orgy, Tyldum’s film lacks pointless, unnecessary scenes. From what I could tell, pretty much every scene in the film contributed to the story in some way. Whether it be for suspense or character development, there were no scenes I felt robbed for sitting through.
Without giving away any spoilers – because I do recommend seeing this one over Christmas – the film deals with suspense brilliantly. The trailer for Passengers gives very little away: ‘Pratt and Lawrence wake up early on a ship and there’s something they have to deal with’ – a fairly basic expectation. But there’s a whole lot more going on in this film, and come the climactic final scene, you will certainly be questioning your own morality.
Making a film with only two regular characters can be a gamble. But it would seem this gamble certainly paid off for the producers of this film. Pratt in particular, who features in the film for a sizable segment before the introduction of Lawrence, is spectacular. Acting on your own in a film about being trapped by yourself isn’t easy, particularly when you’re surrounded by dozens of crew members. You may recall a similar scenario with Matt Damon in Martian, who blew audiences away with his outstanding mono-performance. Not to compare films, but Pratt’s performance is arguably on par with that of Damon’s, although very contrasting styles.
Lawrence is also essential in the success of both actors’ delivery. Her introduction brings a stunningly natural chemistry between both her and Pratt, as well as yet another solid, reliable, Lawrence-style individual performance.
What really stood out in this film was how the director handled love-making scenes. Not to hop on the ‘male-gaze’ bandwagon, but too often now are we forced to endure softcore porn scenes in Hollywood cinema which provide nothing but satisfaction to sexually frustrated ‘critics’ and a look inside the perverted and uncreative mind of the director. There is basically no nudity in this film.
Overall, Passengers is a very good film. It’s not a great, it probably won’t be remembered. This is prominently due to their lack of risk-taking. The story, although not used before, didn’t seem particularly new. That being said, it keeps you engaged through great acting, well executed suspense and beautiful imagery.
It’s cheesy, sure. But it’s a sci-fi/romance.
Evan O'Gorman 