Passengers

Rating: 7/10 (23 December 2016)

Ship, carrying 5000 colonists and over 200 crewmembers, encounters meteorite swarm while traveling to a new homeworld causing malfunctions to various operations, awakening engineer Chris Pratt from his hibernation chamber. He realizes that he was awoken way too early: there is still 90 years to go and he is all alone except for an android bartender (played by scene stealing Michael Shannon, who is lit and resembled Joe Turkell (Lloyd) from The Shining (1980) to me)! Walking past the hibernation pod of a writer (Jennifer Lawrence) during a year-long slumber where the absence of human contact is deteriorating his mental state (he nearly shoots himself into space after space-suit visits outside the ship), Pratt contemplates releasing her so he can have companionship with a fellow earthling. While the android bartender is pleasant and gentle-manly enough, it isn't quite the same as having chats and worthwhile contact with someone who feels and thinks as he does. So he rigs Lawrence's pod to make it seems that her awakening was a malfunction, and the two spend the next year getting to know each other, eventually falling in love. But will Lawrence learn of Pratt's releasing her from her hibernation which was meant to take her all the way to homeworld, condemning her to die on the ship? Meanwhile, there are system failures starting to pile up as a significant fire and damage from meteorites at the beginning of the film threaten to destroy the ship. With Laurence Fishburne as a ship officer awakened also from pod failure with a certain type of clearance "band" (each person on the ship has wrist bands that grant them certain privileges and accesses to areas of the ship and its luxuries) that will help Pratt and Lawrence significantly towards the end of the film.
While the plot is as familiar, predictable, and uninventive, the star power is undeniable and the special effects are razzle-dazzle and extraordinary. Lawrence has a fantastic piece of acting in the middle of the film when she realizes Pratt woke her up from hibernation, sentencing her to die on the ship, wrought with rage and heartbreak. Pratt shows his sensitive side with this part, and his initial loneliness is palpably presented where we totally understand why he'd do that to Lawrence even if it is wrong. Fishburne makes the most of a very small part (which wastes him because I wanted so much more time with him), where his worth is basically tied to the band around his wrist and to underlie how the pod's malfunction could seal the fate for someone prematurely released. The gravity malfunction sequences (one where Lawrence is swimming and caught in a large "water bubble" that nearly drowns her, also lifting Pratt and dropping him hard to the floor, is a knockout) are impressive as is the layout of the ship and the visual tours outside it. I think "Passengers" is a fun two hours if you want something that fills the screen of a theater and tickles your eyes with its eyepopping special effect/set design candy, but the plot is just not all that extravagant. It is funny (those "clean-up" robots are a hoot, and Shannon nearly brings a smile to the face every time he appears), sexy (Lawrence and Pratt have some steamy encounters testing the PG-13 rating), thrilling (although the ending is never in doubt, the near-fatal space catastrophe for Pratt when he must go outside the ship to manually open a hatch so that fire can escape, and Lawrence needing to pull a handle when the time is right as the threat of critical failure was imminent prove exciting and suspenseful), romantic (the film gives plenty of time to Lawrence and Pratt to convince us they like each other then gradually fall in love as the ship has its luxuries they take advantage of), and blockbuster big (the effects and sets are the best Hollywood money can buy). Eventually this will probably take up your Blu-ray shelf with other aesthetic sci-fi pleasures, but it doesn't really have enough meat to the bones of its plot to achieve heights beyond popcorn movie status. Pratt and Lawrence are always watchable, and their chemistry helps a great deal...they carry this film along with the sci-fi goodies that Hollywood money provides. Pratt's engineering and creative genius with parts and equipment comes in handy (plot device to make him quite the hero) when the ship goes to hell. Fishburne seems to be a walking plot device himself, just in it long enough to supply help to our heroes when without him there would be none.