Review of Passengers (2016) by Anthony W — 05 Jun 2017

I find the critic review levels baffling. What's the deal with the 31% rating?! This was perfectly sound hard sci-fi, with a rich graphic appearance and solid acting performances. The script did have the odd low-point and lacunae (why so little of Fishburne?), but it was nevertheless credible and certainly the plotline was sensible and well within the realm of the hard science fiction tradition. None of what was proposed was beyond what we currently envisage as potentially possible - we know what these technologies are, we're just not quite there yet. Up to the late 20th century, these long journeys of migratory colonisation were perfectly normal within our culture (and they still are in many other cultures around the world); it's interesting to see some of the problems, emotions, ideas and issues that such migration brings put into the context of our future.

It's possible that Chris Pratt in particular draws the ire of "serious" film critics because of his superb comedic abilities; they must assume that just because he's able to be funny must mean he can't possibly also be serious - how wrong they are. In particular his portrayal of the lonely "shipwrecked" passenger is nuanced enough to achieve both comedic value (stupid dancing), profound tragedy (the near-suicide), and the sense of being deeply moved (the first spacewalk).

Jennifer Lawrence neatly demonstrates that she's capable of much more than just the hard, driven character from the Hunger Games but also softer, more subtle personalities. Having said that, I think the performance put in by Pratt is all-round more solid and more interesting.

Sheen is a very good third character who breaks the tension between the two main characters nicely. His android performance is up there with the best of them - a lighter, more inane version of Fassbender in Prometheus. Lawrence Fishburne puts in a sound performance though it's bafflingly short (a flaw in the script, I'd say). Why Andy Garcia is even credited for his 1.2 second, line-less appearance is beyond me - how could his agent allow that?!

So: decent performance, lovely CGI, good plot, good acting. What more do you want? 80%.