Passengers (2016)


Engineer Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) is accidentally awakened 90 years too early from long-term hibernation on the spaceship Avalon on the way to a colony planet with 5,000 passengers – a plot seemingly borrowed for Alien Covenant. Lonely, suicidal and craving company, he deliberately wakes up fellow passenger Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence), thus essentially sentencing her to death on the trip with him. The film explores these moral issues as well as their complex relationship, which gets a lot more complex when she learns how she awoke. But then other things start to go wrong...

It’s a funny, scary, dramatic and romantic story that works because it’s so simple. The ship looks stunning, as do all the effects (a swimming pool during a gravity-loss malfunction), and the two main actors are perfect in the lead roles.

It’s clever the way the film parodies the bland commercial corporate-speak of the company organising the colony. Also appealing is the droid barman (Michael Sheen), who acts as a confidant to the characters and seems almost human. Rather than offering a cold, technological experience, the narrative focuses on the humanity of Jim and Aurora. It’s a delight to see a space film that’s so full of warmth.

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