Passengers by Wayne Keeley

Rating: 8/10 (2 December 2019)

BAIT AND SWITCH - the action (generally illegal) of advertising goods that are an apparent bargain, with the intention of substituting inferior or more expensive goods.
The trailer and promos for the movie Passengers definitely constitute a carefully thought-out marketing plan using bait and switch tactics.
First the BAIT: two of the biggest stars today - Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. The setting: a colonial spaceship traveling through space - the final frontier. The plot: The ship goes through a meteor storm causing Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) to awaken from deep hibernation 90 years too soon. After more than a year living alone he is joined (can't say how - it will spoil the movie) by Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) and Chief Deck Officer (Laurence Fishburne). The conflict: certain ethical and moral actions undertaken by Chris Pratt. The rising climax: the meteor storm has damaged the ship leading to the imminent breakdown of all systems and death to everyone on board including 5000-plus sleeping passengers. Production value: 110-million dollar production budget. Cool sci-fi doodads: swimming pool with empyreal view; ultra hi-tech food cooker and dispenser (okay, Star Trek had one too); a charismatic, artificially intelligent robot bartender named Arthur. Nice CGI and special effects: especially the anti-gravity scenes.
Sounds like a slick, expensive sci-fi, hi-tech, mystery, thriller, action/adventure, right? Wrong.
The SWITCH: a chick-flick with expensive sci-fi trappings that have nothing to do with the story. Indeed, if Jon Spaihts' screenplay was a novel, it would be categorized as women's upmarket fiction. Not that there is anything wrong with a chick flick - but do we really need the bait and switch? I wish I could go more into detail, but that would just violate our policy (my wife's) against giving out spoilers.
Apart from the bait and switch issue, the movie is TOTALLY derivative. Yeah, I know that there is nothing original anymore, especially in Hollywood - but still - there were so many homages, clichés, and rips that my mind became overloaded like the defunct computer, Hal, in 2001: A Space Odyssey. There were real similarities to Cast Away, Lost in Space, Gravity, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Titanic, Interstellar, 50 Shades of Grey, Groundhog Day (yes, Chris Pratt's obsession with Jennifer Lawrence in a way mirrors Bill Murry's obsession with Andie MacDowell), The Martian, Star Trek IV, Alien, The Bible, and countless others.
Despite all of the above, I did enjoy the movie. Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence had REAL chemistry. The solid acting and direction by Morten Tyldum kept me engaged throughout; no anti-heine itch cream needed. Michael Sheen's performance as the android robot was MasterCard priceless.
Would I have gone if the trailer portrayed Passengers as Romeo and Juliet in Outer Space (with overtones of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)? Probably not. Am I glad I saw it? Yes. So I guess the bait and switch wasn't that much of a negative tactic after all.