The initially gripping “How could this happen?” is even tantalisingly dangled in the film’s tagline “There is a reason they woke up”. Sadly, despite these wonderful opportunities, the plot lets it down. And of course, the interstellar setting promises much, including Gravity-esque space walks and a terrific scene which aptly demonstrates the importance of actual gravity. But better than these two put together is Michael Sheen as the cliché-spouting android bartender. Passengers’ strong points include its aspirational, futuristic production design and the casting of Jennifer Lawrence against Pratt, which was surely predicted to be chemistry on tap. Facing a lonely life and certain death before the vessel reaches its destination, Jim’s future now turns on an ethical dilemma. Unfortunately, something causes passenger Jim Preston (the popularly charismatic Chris Pratt) to wake too soon. Viewers who have flown long-haul in ordinary aeroplanes will be wistful, since these travellers lie in induced hibernation for the duration, scheduled to awaken only at T minus four months in order to enjoy leisure activities such as you’d see on a 6-star cruise ship, and to prepare for their new, Utopian existence. The Starship Avalon is on a 120-year journey through space to Homestead II – a new colony to be inhabited by the ship’s 5000 civilians who are seeking a new life away from Earth. The set-up for Passengers is pretty great, and the startling setting and gorgeous rendering of space travel initially suggest this is going to be a worthy blockbuster. This review first appeared in the Sunday Star-Times, 1st January 2017
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