The adventurous science fiction romance “Passengers” (** OUT
OF ****), starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, contains an initially appetizing
premise. An enormous spaceship carrying 5000
passengers and a crew of 250, all of whom are asleep in hibernation pods for
the 120-year journey through space to colonize another Earth-like planet, encounters
complications with an asteroid field and a malfunction opens one of the pods. Our unfortunate
hero awakens to find himself alone aboard the spacecraft with luxurious accommodations
and recreational facilities, but he cannot resume his sleep no matter what he
tries. Imagine being trapped all alone aboard
a vessel reminiscent either of Douglas Adams’ novel “Starship Titanic” or Grant
Naylor’s novel “Red Dwarf” cruising on auto-pilot through the icy desolation of
the galaxy with nobody to turn to for relief and assistance. No matter what he does, our hero cannot get a
response from anybody about his ordeal. Moreover,
he won’t interact with another human until the ship enters orbit around its destination
in 90 years! Indeed, the only thing that
he can do is share his anguish with an oblivious android that mixes alcoholic
beverages behind the bar and indulge in the recreational outlets aboard the
ship. “Imitation Game” director Morten
Tyldum and “Prometheus” scenarist Jon Spaihts synthesize the classic films “Sleeping
Beauty” and “Titanic” in this promising ‘what-if’ scenario, but the characters
aren’t as compelling as the life and death crisis with which they must contend. Chiefly, Jennifer Lawrence’s highly-strung,
leading lady spends more time screaming than scheming, while the Chris Pratt
hero tangles with a fate so tragic that he conducts himself in an ethically
compromising manner that haunts him.
Some of the obstacles that they confront are genuinely exciting, but “Passengers”
amounts to a thoroughly predictable yarn riddled with plot holes that neither
Tyldum and Spaihts nor Lawrence and Pratt can triumph over in this 116-minute, PG-13
rated opus. Ultimately, when you
consider everything that everybody could have done to improve this flawed film,
it is really a shame that “Passengers” doesn’t live up to its potential.
Basically, “Passengers” reminded me of those adventures that intrepid
pilgrims embarked upon to enter a promised land for a better life. Jim Preston (Chris Pratt of “Guardians of the
Galaxy”) is a middle-class, mechanical engineer who cannot find his fortune on a
vastly overpopulated planet Earth, so he books passage aboard the lavishly appointed
corporate ferry Avalon for a faraway place designated Homestead II. There are two things that you should know from
the outset about “Passengers.” First,
this sci-fi saga occurs so far into the future that all the guess work in space
travel appears to have been accounted for by scientists so that nothing can
possibly go wrong. Second, our hero and
heroine don’t contend with menacing alien creatures out to make a meal of them. Humanity is the only race that inhabits this half-baked
escapade that wears out its welcome long before the Avalon reaches its
destination. During the first 30 or so
minutes, Jim Preston struggles to amuse himself aboard this spectacular
spaceship. Some things about the craft are
really cool. As it plies its way through
the universe, this sophisticated, state-of-the-art spaceship has been designed
to travel on auto-pilot with a huge, invisible shield deployed like a huge nose-cone
to deflect anything perilous in its path. The asteroid field that it smashes
its way through during the first few minutes evokes memories of “Titanic,” but
the toll that the asteroid field takes on the Avalon doesn’t create problems
right away. After he awakens, Preston
takes advantage of all the opportunities that the ship offers. As it turns out, the hibernation pods are
scheduled to open during the last leg of the voyage, with the crew awakening months
prior to the passengers so they can prepare them for disembarkation. When Jim isn’t floating in alcohol, he tries
to break into the bridge where the crew sleeps.
Meantime, Jim browses through the passenger database and finds Aurora
and admires her in her translucent hibernation pod. Eventually, about a year later, Aurora Lane
(Jennifer Lawrence of “The Hunger Games”) joins Jim, and the fate that they are
facing horrifies her. Jim has done everything
that she suggests later to extricate them from their predicament.
Initially, like all romantic movies, time takes a toll on Jim
and Aurora’s relationship, especially the conditions that prompted their
rendezvous in space. We learn Aurora is
a writer who wants to experience life first-hand on Homestead II and then
return to Earth so she can write the first book about the experience. Unlike Jim, Aurora purchased a higher priced
ticket and enjoys all the features of a first-class passenger. You can see the
resemblance between “Passengers” and the Leonardo DiCaprio & Kate Winslet “Titanic.”
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt generate
enough charisma to make a sympathetic couple. Nevertheless, they can only do so
many things before “Passengers” exhausts its spontaneity. The closest thing to another human is friendly
android bartender Arthur (Michael Sheen of “TRON: Legacy”) that polishes glasses,
mixes drinks, and listens to them. You
can figure out where “Passengers” is bound with its cliché-riddled ‘boy gets
girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back’ plot.
Once Jim and Aurora have broken up, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist
to see that something bigger must happen for them to repair the damage to their
relationship. They must reconcile
themselves and then figure out how to repair the catastrophic damage to the Avalon
as it steadily deteriorates because of the asteroid field encounter. Lawrence and Pratt are more interesting than
the one-dimensional characters that they portray. The arrival of another
character to straighten things out doesn’t really help matters in Spaihts’
by-the-numbers screenplay. For the record,
Hollywood has been struggling to develop this project for about a decade. Initially, Keanu Reeves and Reese Witherspoon
were cast to play the two lovers, but scheduling difficulties derailed that
enterprise. You won’t get carried away with “Passengers.”
