Passengers is a good film, but not perfect. In fact, it's like they suddenly tried to steer away from it being a great film and charged straight into mediocre at the end.
For the first part of the film, Chris Pratt does an amazing job portraying a man alone on a ship. From confusion to curiosity to horror to freedom to despair, he demonstrates an amazing range and the film displays it realistically.
Then Jennifer Lawrence's character comes into the mix, and again, she also shows great range. Their interaction and relationship builds wonderfully.
And then there's the big kicker, which I won't discuss because spoilers. But you know it is going to happen, and the tension builds up to that moment well.
And again, great acting by both the leads in their reactions. It's fantastic, realistic, and it hits hard. And it really will leave you thinking about the choices, the relationship, everything. Even if you don't agree with them, you can definitely understand and sympathize with them. And that's amazing. But... then the movie takes a left turn.
Now comes the 10% of the movie. Hey look, a disaster! You know what that means. Relationship-Salvaging Disaster ahoy! Much like the problem with superhero films that threaten the destruction of the entire world with a giant beam of light in the sky - you know the film can't possibly end with the ship actually being destroyed. So while it adds some action, I didn't feel nearly as much tension from the spaceship being threatened compared to their relationship.
In short, I think I would have liked to see the relationship develop naturally rather than an external force basically "forcing" something to happen. I honestly think it would have been more interesting that way.
Still, I think it's an enjoyable film overall. Tightly focused on two characters, well acted by both, set in a futuristic setting that definitely hints at far, far more for your imagination to play with. It starts off with a hard question to make you think, but unfortunately, it kind of just... drops that question in favour of an easy, forced conclusion that almost feels like cheating. And in the end, I kind of feel cheated. I wanted something thoughtful. It started off thoughtful. Then it throws away thoughtful in favour of run-of-the-mill.
Additional discussion: If I had it my way, I would have downplayed the ship-disaster a lot. While the happy ending feels nice, I would have gone for a more "circular" ending: Let Pratt's character die while Lawrence's character still hates him. In his absence, she remembers how much she loved him. And then she's living alone for another year. Or two. And then end with her standing in front of another pod, with the emergency manual, debating with herself whether she is willing to do exactly the same thing...). That's how I would have done it, at least. YMMV.
90% there. Removing 10% of the movie and sticking with the main theme could have made it great.
Passengers is a good film, but not perfect. In fact, it's like they suddenly tried to steer away from it being a great film and charged straight into mediocre at the end.
For the first part of the film, Chris Pratt does an amazing job portraying a man alone on a ship. From confusion to curiosity to horror to freedom to despair, he demonstrates an amazing range and the film displays it realistically.
Then Jennifer Lawrence's character comes into the mix, and again, she also shows great range. Their interaction and relationship builds wonderfully.
And then there's the big kicker, which I won't discuss because spoilers. But you know it is going to happen, and the tension builds up to that moment well.
And again, great acting by both the leads in their reactions. It's fantastic, realistic, and it hits hard. And it really will leave you thinking about the choices, the relationship, everything. Even if you don't agree with them, you can definitely understand and sympathize with them. And that's amazing. But... then the movie takes a left turn.
Now comes the 10% of the movie. Hey look, a disaster! You know what that means. Relationship-Salvaging Disaster ahoy! Much like the problem with superhero films that threaten the destruction of the entire world with a giant beam of light in the sky - you know the film can't possibly end with the ship actually being destroyed. So while it adds some action, I didn't feel nearly as much tension from the spaceship being threatened compared to their relationship.
In short, I think I would have liked to see the relationship develop naturally rather than an external force basically "forcing" something to happen. I honestly think it would have been more interesting that way.
Still, I think it's an enjoyable film overall. Tightly focused on two characters, well acted by both, set in a futuristic setting that definitely hints at far, far more for your imagination to play with. It starts off with a hard question to make you think, but unfortunately, it kind of just... drops that question in favour of an easy, forced conclusion that almost feels like cheating. And in the end, I kind of feel cheated. I wanted something thoughtful. It started off thoughtful. Then it throws away thoughtful in favour of run-of-the-mill.
Additional discussion: If I had it my way, I would have downplayed the ship-disaster a lot. While the happy ending feels nice, I would have gone for a more "circular" ending: Let Pratt's character die while Lawrence's character still hates him. In his absence, she remembers how much she loved him. And then she's living alone for another year. Or two. And then end with her standing in front of another pod, with the emergency manual, debating with herself whether she is willing to do exactly the same thing...). That's how I would have done it, at least. YMMV.