Passengers (2016)
There’s nothing remotely romantic about this movie. Guy wakes up early. Guy feels lonely. Guy sees girl. Guy wakes girl. Guy dooms girl to death.
What is Passengers about?
A malfunction in a sleeping pod on a spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet wakes one passenger 90 years early. (from IMDB)
My review of Passengers
The visuals are impressive, and the sets are romantic and whimsical with an intense aura about them. Unfortunately, the cinematography is average, and so isn't as awe-inspiring as it could have been.
The score is gorgeous. Haunting, feverish, passionate sounds fade to dreamy romantic tunes when the scenes require it, and overall I loved the music. My only peeve is that I thought some scenes needed music, and yet those didn't have any.
The dialogue is dull and meaningless. It's so bland, and wastes opportunity after opportunity when it comes to Aurora and Jim's scenes, when backstory and important info could be discussed.
The story is based on a Stockholm-Syndrome relationship that feels unsettling and toxic from start to finish. Had the writers actually addressed the disturbing nature of Jim’s feelings for Aurora, the film might’ve been better.
The solutions to the climax and other bumps in the story are also incredibly convenient and simplistic; there's no intelligence or originality to it at all, so don't expect anything mind-blowing. The twists are predictable, and solutions expedient. It's the kinda thing where you just have to "pull that one lever over there and it shuts down the whole operation". And obviously everyone over-sweats and fights to reach that one lever.
But the main problem with this film is how boring it is. There are spits of action, but they're far too episodic and lack proper consequences. Yet, the action isn't frequent; I suppose there's only so much you can make happen between two people in an empty spaceship. Even the other characters who appear are just plot-devices. Overall, it's slow and it's tedious.
The acting is good. The writers clearly take advantage of their good-looking leads with hot make-out scenes and flattering outfits. But they aren't just pretty faces; they do act well. J. Law is as solid as she ever is, and I truly ached for Chris Pratt's character.
There is no character development, however. Jim and Aurora's backstories are faintly touched on but never expanded upon, and what little is revealed does nothing to make them three-dimensional. At the end of the film, they are as bland and flat as they were at the beginning.
