Works (sort of) as a romance movie, but fails as a sci-fi action movie

Rating: 6/10 (22 December 2016)

"Passengers" (2016 release; 116 min.) brings the story of the Starship Avalon, "Destination: Space Colony Homestead II", we are reminded at the beginning of the movie. The 5,000+ passengers aboard are in hibernation for the 120 year journey. But when the spaceship run into a large meteorite, the hibernation pod of one of the passengers malfunctions, and wakes up a guy named Jim Preston. Alone on the giant spaceship (but for a robot bartender named Arthur), Jim tries to fix the pod (to no avail) and seems resigned to just wither away. Then he has an idea... At this point we are 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this is the second Hollywood movie from Danish director Morten Tyldum, who brought us the brilliant "Headhunters" some 4-5 years ago and soon thereafter was signed to direct "The Imitation Game". Here he brings us a sci-fi movie in the disguise of a romance (or perhaps it's the other way around). The best part of the movie is the first 30 min. when Jim (played by Chris Pratt) adjusts to his lonesome existence on the giant spaceship. When eventually Aurora (played by Jennifer Lawrence) joins him (sorry, can't spoil how that happens exactly), the movie becomes an outright romantic affair, a courtship set in space. "For two unlucky people, we sure got lucky", says Aurora at some point. It isn't until the last 30 min. that the movie tries to make itself into a sci-fi action movie, but in my opinion fails to do so credibly (too many holes in the script the size of Manhattan). Michael Sheen is a pure delight as the robot bartender. The last character (played by Lawrence Fishburn) enters the plot too late to have any significant impact. On the plus side, the set and production design is top-notch, it's clear no expenses were spared (the movie sports a reported production cost of $110 million). Kudos also to Thomas Newman for the fantastic film score, which plays quasi non-stop (Imagine Dragons also contribute a new song "Levitate" which plays over the movie's end titles). Bottom line: if you have seen the movie's trailer and are expecting an action-packed space movie, you are sure to be disappointed, as this is not that kind of movie at all.
"Passengers" opened wide on Wednesday of this week. Having seen the trailer, I couldn't wait to see it. The Wednesday evening screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati was attended okay but not great. Given the onslaught of new releases as usual at the year-end, I'm guessing "Passenger" is going to have a difficult time finding an audience. If you really want to see a space action movie, stick with "Rogue One". If on the other hand you are in the mood for a romantic movie, this might well do the trick for you, up to a certain level.