Passengers (2016)

[7]

Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence star as passengers of an enormous spaceship en route to a new colonial planet. They’re two of five thousand, all in hibernation for their 120-year voyage. But when asteroids damage the ship and cause Pratt’s character to come out of suspended animation 90 years early, he’s got to come to grips with the fact that he’ll live and die alone before the ship ever reaches its destination.

After one year alone and a couple of months wrestling with the decision, Pratt decides to wake another passenger to rescue him from crushing loneliness — even though it means sentencing her to living out her life alone with him. So he wakes Lawrence, and keeps it a secret from her that he’s responsible for her awakening. In the best portion of the film, Lawrence and Pratt get to know each other and fall in love against the backdrop of outer space and all the spaceship’s luxury amusements. But Pratt must eventually own up to his transgression when Lawrence learns the truth about why she was taken out of hibernation. And worse, she and Pratt must work together to save the ship from the series of cascading failures caused by the asteroids.

Passengers is a great vehicle for Chris Pratt, who gets to act alone for the first twenty or thirty minutes. Lawrence’s part is a bit less dynamic, but she couldn’t give a bad performance if her life depended on it. The two of them make this movie work. I also found the setting and atmosphere of the movie compelling, thanks in large part to Guy Hendrix Dyas’ beautiful production design and Rodrigo Prieto’s colorful cinematography.

The third act is comparatively predictable and uninspired, what you might expect from a summer blockbuster. But before that, Passengers is an interesting exploration of loneliness and selfishness, and what bearing they have on our concept of ‘love’. And it’s presented through two of the finest young actors of their generation.

I also want to single out one particular sequence, because I’ve never seen anything quite like it before. At one point in the film, Jennifer Lawrence is swimming in a pool overlooking the stars. The ship’s gravity suddenly goes out while she’s under water. As she and the water begin floating out of the pool, she realizes she has to find a way to propel herself out of the sprawling glob before she drowns!

With Michael Sheen and Laurence Fishburne.

Oscar Nominations: Best Production Design, Score (Thomas Newman)