*Rubbish ** Ok *** Good **** Very Good ***** Unmissable

Passengers ** Cast Away in space

 

      In the future some of Earth's population have decided to relocate to another planet, so just hop into a tube then hibernate for about a 100 years and your there!
     Unless anything goes for some Hollywood heartthrobs passengers like Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence who wake up 90 years too early and no way to get back to sleep.... 

          The concept itself is intriguing, the special effects make the central location believable and the cast work hard to carry off the script, with extra pressure on them as they are basically the only ones on screen apart from a scene stealing Micheal Sheen as a Android Barman and a brief very welcomed appearance from Laurence Fishburne who both keep morale up for the passengers and audience. 

      However the story and the tone are muddled, it feels like we go through the five stages of grief (twice), the romance is so blindingly expected like putting two hamsters in a cage (hell if Pratt was replaced by John Candy after a few decades he'd look good to Jennifer), the big reason behind the awakening is well not really that big and we take a rather creepy tone at one point making Star Lord into Star Creep.

       The shame of passengers is it contains an abundance of missed opportunities, a creepy twist would have been much better delivered it we saw it as a back flash rather than watch every single plot point unfold at a snails pace .  An Divine reason behind the inciting event would have given depth and more purpose to our journey.

         Passengers is by no means a action film like perhaps it's marketed or even a mystery thriller like it's been hinted at. It's more fitting to a Psychological Drama set in space... now try and sell that to your 12A audience. 

        Passengers has a good concept and in the hands of a creative genius like Kubrick this could have perhaps been quite special but here it never pushes to evolve, to dare to be bigger or take risks and with a scope as big as the universe that's a real shame.