By Bernie ‘The Movie Guy’ Ment
Contributing Writer
About a third of the way through the movie, a thought popped into my head – “Titanic” in space. Impending doom and shipboard romance is a tried and true combination and that’s pretty much the feel of this movie.
But I digress. This is a movie that plays by the numbers and the circumstances make for great story telling, however parts of the story seem somewhat contrived to provide the ideal Hollywood ending.
Chris Pratt stars as James Preston, a mechanic who decides to start a new life on a distant world. He buys a ticket on this passenger liner to a destination known as Homestead II, a distant colony world that will take 120 years to reach.
He’s placed in suspended animation however a malfunction causes his pod to wake him early. The ship’s preprogramming informs him that they are close to arrival on Homestead II. Further research reveals that they are still ninety years away and that Jim is the only passenger awake on the massive starship.
His only companion is an android bartender named Arthur (Michael Sheen) who acts in a typical British bartender fashion, constantly polishing a glass in an attempt to seem nonchalant and engaging in conversation with his obviously distraught sole patron.
Having a vast cruise liner all to oneself may not seem like an entirely unappealing proposition. Jim has the run of everything with one sole provision – he’s not a gold class passenger so he only technically has access to low level accommodations.
Being an engineer, though, allows him to study up on the mechanics of the starship and make certain changes to his accessibility. The gold class suites, for instance, are so much more luxurious than his assigned guest room.
But of course loneliness will take its toll. When your only companions are a mechanical bartender and a ship computer that won’t divulge anything important, it might drive you a little stir crazy after a while.
After more than a year living his solitary life, Jim actually contemplates suicide, but he finds the capsule of another passenger named Aurora Lane, played by the beautiful and talented Hunger Games alum, Jennifer Lawrence.
Now let’s stop and think about this for a moment – as a guy, wouldn’t it be your perfect fantasy to be marooned on a vessel with only Jennifer Lawrence to keep you company? Conversely, ladies, wouldn’t you love to be trapped with Chris Pratt? But, again, I digress.
The dilemma he faces is whether to wake her and force her into spending eternity with him or to leave her capsule alone and let her continue to Homestead II in serenity.
Loneliness (and perhaps a little selfishness) convinces him to wake her up to join his little adventure and, in its own way, the decision is prophetic for both of them.
Aurora is a writer who is planning on documenting her adventure for posterity. The adventure she finds, though, is quite different from the one she planned on. Together, she and Jim must figure out what went wrong on the ship that caused his capsule to malfunction and wake him up far too soon.
Here is where the story kicks into high gear. However, some of the situations the pair find themselves in seem almost contrived to create peril for the couple. And of course tensions will escalate when certain truths are revealed between the two.
Pratt is the perfect choice for this story. His attitude and demeanor convincingly convey the outer calmness masking a quiet desperation when he discovers the one way path in which his life has suddenly found itself.
Conversely, Jennifer Lawrence epitomizes the inner strength needed to deal with her own situation and she must make decisions on how she too will deal with the hand her life has been dealt.
Laurence Fishburne plays the lone other human to interact with the stars when his own compartment malfunctions and wakes him prematurely with catastrophic results. His character is introduced at the right moment and his appearance is vital to the story’s outcome.
And even though some of the circumstances may seem contrived, they don’t deter from the compelling storyline of the movie. If you want to pick apart the circumstances, it will be easy to make a mockery of the story, but if you prefer to suspend your disbelief for a couple of hours, this movie makes for a pleasant diversion.
Romance among the stars with a little action thrown in? I’m sold. I give “Passengers” four out of five stars.
