Product: Passengers (2008)
Rating: 4.0
Moving - but too much filler
`Passengers' is one of those schizophrenic films that seems to have been written by two different writers (Ronnie Christensen alone). The basic plot premise is that Claire Summers, (Anne Hathaway) a psychologist, tries to help half a dozen airplane crash survivors cope with post traumatic stress disorder. Now, personally, from the beginning, I knew exactly what was going to happen at the end, but hold still. The ending is a must.The middle portion of the film is full of medical interviews and sessions with various survivors of the crash who seem to all have different memories of the incident, different feelings and different reactions. This part is mostly filler with each patient strangely disappearing as the film progress. There are too many `gotcha' moments like phones ringing in the middle of the night, newspapers flapping at Claire's face in the wind, barking dogs that won't go away, people jumping off roofs in front of Claire that were just `goofs', a faked drowning, etc. There is tons of symbolism. There is even a fake conspiracy that fills time. Then there is also the obligatory love scene between Claire Summers and Eric (Patrick Wilson) as a creepy guy turned amorous. It's just a pack of things you've seen before.However, in the last 15 minutes of the film, you start to catch on with each character's life and it really turns out to be quite moving. You understand why each person was in the plot and what they were and what they turn into. The final moments are very touching as everything comes together and there is a good feeling of satisfaction. Its not perfect, but it does make for a good sleuthing film and a good date movie.