This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
On paper, "Passengers" should work like a dream: Put two ridiculously good-looking stars in a science-fiction situation loaded with action, tension and steamy romance, and watch the fireworks.
In practice, though, "Passengers" is a sputtering sparkler that never takes off, because of sluggish direction by Morten Tyldum ("The Imitation Game") and a problematic script by Jon Spaihts.
Sometime in the future, the starship Avalon is gliding across the cosmos on a 120-year voyage from an overpopulated Earth to a colony planet, Homestead II. On board are 258 crew members and 5,000 passengers, all in hibernation pods to sleep through the long trip.
After a run-in with an asteroid shower, the ship experiences some minor malfunctions — including the early opening of one of the sleeping pods. Jim Preston (Chris Pratt), a mechanic planning to start a new life on Homestead II, is awakened 30 years into the trip, with 90 to go.
Jim tries to make the best of the situation, using the luxury facilities and raiding the cargo holds in what looks like the ship from "Wall-E." After a year of loneliness, with only a robot bartender (Michael Sheen) for company, Jim is on the verge of a mental collapse.
It's at this point that a second passenger is awakened: Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence), a writer who's taking the colonial voyage to seek adventure. (And, yes, naming a sleeping beauty Aurora is a little too on-the-nose.) She's horrified at the prospect of living her remaining years in space, but after a while she makes the best of things. Along the way, Aurora and Jim start to fall in love.
I've omitted a significant detail in this synopsis. At first, that detail feels like a twist in the plot, but it's not — it's the whole design of the plot. Everything hinges on this one detail in Spaihts' script, a morally dubious decision by a main character.
That detail is a poisoned root that infects everything that springs from it. It becomes impossible to empathize with this one character or to root for the romance between Jim and Aurora to flourish. It makes the ending especially nauseating, as the story compounds one bad choice with another.
Tyldum's poor handling of the action sequences leaves plenty of time for the audience to ponder these bad choices. There are some cool science-fiction visuals — the best is when Aurora is trapped in bubbles of water as the gravity malfunctions while she's in a swimming pool — but nothing that quickens the pulse.
Like the Avalon, "Passengers" looks sleek and cool. Alas, there's that one fatal flaw that causes the whole thing to spiral hopelessly out of control.
Twitter: @moviecricket —
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'Passengers'
Two people are awakened too soon on an interstellar trip in a sci-fi romance that's marred by a fatal design flaw.
Where • Theaters everywhere.
When • Opens Wednesday, Dec. 21.
Rating • PG-13 for sexuality, nudity and action/peril.
Running time • 116 minutes.