Flawed beyond repair

Rating: 6/10 (19 February 2017)

Simply put, Morten Tyldum's Passengers is flawed beyond repair. Featuring two of Hollywood's most beloved stars and an interesting sci-fi concept and setting, the hopes for an entertaining and thought-provoking experience were relatively high. Sadly, when Passengers attempted to be any more than a disposable sci-fi romance flick, it became startlingly clear that the overall messages are not only morally askew, but downright disturbing.
Political and philosophical themes of morality are explored throughout the generally linear story, and while the principles surrounding the overall situation can be fun to discuss afterwards, it seems the film didn't know what to do with it's moral dilemmas as they come up in the narrative. The overall themes and messages that the film portrays are quite disturbing. Moments of sadistically disregarding human life are brushed aside to make way for lovey-dovey scenes of Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. It's not the overall wrong message that this film portrays that I find sloppy, but the way that the film stumbles over itself attempting to display it's philosophies.
Despite this rather glaring issue, there is some enjoyment to be found here. Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence do share some interesting chemistry and, while they weren't given much to work with emotionally, each of their performances generated some character. And while the aspects of romance were, quite literally, forced, the interactions and tension between Pratt's and Lawrence's characters were easily the most enjoyable parts of the film. Its not until the film's action and thrill sequences where the lack of substance is most noticeable. These scenes lack any essence of a punch and the laughably poor dramatic acting from Pratt only helps accentuate the goofiness of the situation. The special effects are decent and the set design is luscious and clean, but none of these qualities help to repair the overall empty feel of the throwaway story or the equally awful ending.
To be fair, Passengers is harmless. It's dumb throwaway entertainment that I could find some enjoyment in. There are some interesting uses of special effects and some fun interactions between the film's leads, but when Passengers makes attempts at a philosophical and morality-questioning experience, it only comes off as amateurish. I'm not quite sure what the intentions of Passengers' messages were, but it was painfully obvious when the film was banking on the star-power of Pratt and Lawrence to excuse it's own bumbling narrative.