Good Movie - I think it could have been slightly better

Rating: 7/10 (17 January 2017)

I think it was much better than critics give it credit for. That being said, I can understand, i think, why some didn't like it. We all bring our own biases into films. It was clear to me, from reading some of the professional critical reviews that they would have rated it higher if the events had transpired closer to their personal expectations. I cannot articulate why that is without spoilers, so here goes.
**Spoilers**
Much of the controversy revolves around Jim's decision to short- circuit Aurora's (Jennifer Lawrence) pod. In the film, Jim has been woken up by a subtle malfunction, caused by a tiny fragment of meteor getting past the ships deflection technology. Jim (Chris Pratt) is awake and finds he was woken up 90 years prior to the arrival at their destination, which means he is trapped on the ship, alone, for the remainder of his life.
Jim goes through a series of stages, similar to the film Groundhog Day. He tries to wake the crew, but cannot get through the protective firewall that guards their sleeping compartment. He tries to engineer his pod to put him back to sleep, but that does work, and through research, realizes he can't go back to sleep. So Jim, after meeting a robot bartender, goes through these psychological milestones. Grief, acceptance, etc. After a year, however, he is in complete despair. He considers suicide, but talks himself out of it. Then he sees one of the other passengers in her pod. Aurora (Yes, as in Disney's Aurora).
At first Aurora's unconscious form plays the part of Wilson in the film Castaway. Someone for Jim to talk to. She's a novelist, and a writer for a New York magazine back on Earth. Through exposure to her books and her interviews, he starts to feel an attraction to her. For months he convinces himself that he cannot wake her up, rationalizing his feelings away over and over until he can't any longer. So then does, what to many, is the unthinkable.
From that point we go through a romance subplot built on a lie. For some critics, they would have rather this had played out as a psychological thriller, wherein Jim is becomes the antagonist. It could have easily have been made this way. Instead the romance goes on for a while until the Robot bartender, due to a mistake by Jim, gives away the secret that Jim woke her up. She is, naturally, enraged.
The next act is spent with Jim trying to apologize to her. We can understand why she would be reluctant, and to keep her distance, which she does. But then the ship starts to break down due to a chain reaction that started two years earlier, and what had triggered Jim's pod to malfunction. The malfunctions begin to cascade and wake up a member of the crew, Gus. Gus figures out what Jim did, but there is too much work to do to fix the ship for moral condemnation. Later Aurora looks to commiserate with Gus about what a horrible thing Jim did. Gus agrees, but says it was an understandable human reaction to his situation.
Unfortunately Gus wasn't woken up as safely as Jim had been, and his abrupt discharge from hyper-sleep has severally damaged his internal organs. As he begins his death throws he gives his ID badge to Jim and tells the couple to take care of each other, and to fix the ship. Reluctantly Aurora helps Jim find the major problem with the gravity drive, and the movie turns into a Titanic style disaster film. This seemed to be another sore subject with critics, in that movie abruptly shifted gears.
In the end Jim offers to sacrifice himself to save the ship, but Aurora begins to realize that finality of that. It isn't articulated, but maybe she suddenly had the inkling that she would be desperately alone. It is one thing to refuse to forgive someone who is right there, and you can always forgive at your leisure, it is another to realize you'll be facing the same desperate decision Jim did. In the end Aurora performs a heroic act to save him.
Afterwards Jim finds a way to put Aurora back to sleep using a medical machine, but he would have to activate it from the outside. He offers her the life he stole from her, and in return, she chooses to stay by his side. I thought it was a nice ending, but many others were not satisfied with the happily ever after concept.
Overall I think the execution could have been better in some places, and that is a valid criticism. Still I think it is well worth the watch.