Review of Passengers (2016) by Dawdlingpoet — 20 Nov 2021

This is a science fiction and action/adventure film, with themes covered including automation, glitches or malfunctions, artificial intelligence, loneliness and the concept of hibernation. First off, the visual effects were quite impressive - this is no budget film, thats for sure. It has a very futuristic feel to it, thanks to the space-y, electronic music which is subtle-y played in the background and the visual effects. As Jim becomes aware of his situation, I could feel the panic rising in his voice and I found myself feeling quite engrossed, hence I thought it was a pretty immersive watch. Chris Pratt did well in his portrayal of Jim - I felt quite concerned for him and was really hoping things would go well for him. I thought he did well at showing his more vulnerable side, trying to cope with the fact that he appeared to be trapped in a purely artificial and somewhat despairing, hopeless situation. The plot concept is an interesting one, although I'm not normally especially keen on science fiction films but the plot for this one intrigued me enough to want to give it a watch. I think its the depiction of human vulnerability in a almost purely AI/sterile environment aspect of it that interested me. Other cast members in this film include Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Aurora Lane, Laurence Fishburne, who plays Gus Mancuso and Michael Sheen, who plays Arthur, who isn't what he seems. I'll say no more on that, so as not to spoil the film. Its hard to say much without giving away parts of the plot.

It is potentially quite a thought provoking film, making the viewer wonder what the future may bring. There has been a fair bit of talk about the future of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in recent times, following shows like Humans. I tend to feel that films set entirely in space seem too 'far out' (pardon the literal sounding pun) and often unbelievable to really engage me but having seen 'Moon' recently (which I also reviewed) and this, I quite enjoyed them, from the human perspective, in terms of the fragility of life, the value of companionship and mortality as an issue - that side of things.

Content wise, the film contains a small amount of profanities, nothing very graphic or explicit. There are a couple of brief sex based scenes, although nothing very explicit is shown, some mild nudity but thats about all. There is violence of sorts, with blood shown but nothing especially gory and in general, it is a bit sobering in terms of the themes present but otherwise its unlikely to greatly disturb anyone. Due to this, it has been given a 12 rating in the UK.

I should perhaps point out that this film is relatively slow as far as the plot pace is concerned - the visual effects are, certainly on the whole, quite good, seemingly realistic, hence impressive but it isn't a constant special effects laden, explosions and high action type of a film (aka Star Wars it is not). This should, realistically, be expected given the main plot. Otherwise, I can't think of anything obvious to mark this film down for (or otherwise to criticise about it).