Review of Passengers (2016) by Carbonman — 27 Dec 2016

We went into Passengers expecting little in story or entertainment value, especially considering the ravaging the critics have given it. What we found was for the most part a well constructed desert island tale and one person's struggle to survive and to maintain his sanity. (small spoiler warning).

Jim's selection of Aurora as the person he eventually awoke wasn't predatory, but a random selection from his effort to clean up a bottle hurled in a rage at his loneliness. The fact that the suspended animation chamber contained a beautiful woman was an unplanned benefit. (end of spoiler) The reason for the various equipment failures was boiled down to something serious and unexpected by the designers. The 'evil' corporation that built the ship had covered everything except to trigger an awakening sequence for some of the crew and a total lack of hibernation equipment. The last point is what kicks this into real romance movie territory. The final scene took a minute to make sense but illustrated Jim's desire to give someone he loved what he'd dreamed of building. My suggestion is to go into this movie looking for a couple of hours of light entertainment and good special effects and be pleasantly surprised. BTW, I'd sure as hell not want to be in Jennifer Lawrence's line of fire if she got seriously angry.