Worth booking a pod

Rating: 7/10 (12 April 2017)

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were in cryogenic hibernation on a space ship on a 120-year trip to another planet and you woke up 90-years too early? Well this movie may have the answer.
"Passengers" has two appealing stars in Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence as Jim Preston and Aurora Lane (what a great name), plus pretty good special effects and an unusual story.
The movie was a little lighter than I thought it would be. People have woken up on these kinds of trips before and it's usually not a good thing – remember what happened to Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo when they got an early wake-up call in "Alien".
"Passengers" manages to remain entertaining from beginning to end without the intrusion of any kind of mutant life form.
My one reservation is actually with the costuming. Not all of it, just Jim Preston's outfit. A boring old shirt and pants? We could have expected something more futuristic than items that look like they were bought off the rack in the local menswear department. Aurora fares better with her podwear; it's understated, but looks a lot more timeless. Laurence Fishburne as Chief Mancuso nails it in a collarless jacket that would have passed muster on the bridge in any episode of "Star Trek" – amazing how epaulets look futuristic.
The space ship Aurora has a nice sense of size with a huge bar that is a little reminiscent of the one in "The Shining" where Jack Nicholson was the solitary patron in the empty hotel.
I must admit I do like my sci-fi films to lean towards the cerebral. I don't mind the odd death ray or a chest burster now and then, but I love the kind of sci-fi film that plays tricks with your head: "Interstellar", "Contact", "Moon" and of course the daddy of them all "2001: A Spacy Odyssey".
Although "Passengers" has a touch of "2001" with two space travellers conversing with a master computer, it doesn't delve as deeply into the psyche as those other trips into inner and outer space.
However it does raise ethical questions within the context of the story. "Passengers" may get a little predictable towards the end, but saves a surprise for the final scene; it's a voyage worth taking.