Morten Tyldum
Passengers

Another of the most celebrated blockbusters in the science fiction genre of recent years and another film that essentially relies entirely on the spectacularization of images and a certain drama worthy of James Cameron's film productions, and which will very soon be rightly forgotten by both critics and the public.

'Passengers' is a 2016 science fiction film directed by Morten Tyldum and written by John Spaihts, starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence in the lead roles.

The film, set in an unspecified future, tells the story of the interstellar journey of the spaceship Avalon, which transports 5,000 individuals from Earth in cryogenic sleep to the planet Homestead 2. The travelers, all motivated by different reasons, will be awakened from sleep only four months before arrival, and once on Homestead 2, they will establish the outpost of what will be a new human-inhabited colony in space. The total duration of the journey? About 120 years.

However, the story begins much earlier. There are about 90 years left before arriving on Homestead 2 when, due to a collision with meteors and malfunctions in the spaceship's structure, one of the passengers, Jim Preston (Chris Pratt), wakes up much earlier than planned with the impossibility of reverting to sleep. At this point, Jim is alone and desperate in the middle of space and the deserted spaceship. He cannot rely on anyone and soon realizes that he will never make it to Homestead 2 but will die alone before the journey's end. The only interaction he manages to have is with Arthur (Michael Sheen), the brilliant and realistic robot who serves at the bar counter and possesses the sensitivity and proverbial wisdom of bartenders.

After an initial period in which Jim is completely in despair, he tries to distract himself with the various activities and possibilities offered by a state-of-the-art spaceship like Avalon and indulges himself by wearing an astronaut suit and launching into open space, but shortly, he will collapse psychologically and will consider killing himself.

He changes his mind by chance when he discovers among the hibernated passengers the young, brilliant, and attractive Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence). Fascinated by the girl's beauty, he watches all her recordings until he falls in love with her and finally decides to 'wake her up', even though he knows this will prevent her from completing the journey. Therefore, he decides to act in such a way that everything appears as a simple accident due to a malfunction, aware that if she knew how her awakening happened, she might hate him.

Once awakened, Aurora meets Jim, and gradually the two begin to form an increasingly strong bond, so much so that they will both forget what destiny awaits them and what has been taken from them, and instead consider themselves fortunate for that 'unfortunate' circumstance and to be companions in such a unique experience.

Then things spiral. Both in the relationship between Jim and Aurora, who discovers the truth about her awakening, and as far as the spaceship's fate is concerned.

The ending is mostly filled with breathtaking or supposedly so thrilling scenes and high tension, interspersed with dramatic moments. Frankly, it is so useless that it's not even worth watching.

You might actually stop watching the movie when Aurora discovers the truth about her awakening and attacks Jim (almost reaching the point of killing him) for lying to her and deciding for her. For not giving her the chance to choose. For killing her.

Besides, this is the only occasion where Lawrence is indeed given the chance to remind us that she is probably the best actress around. This is also the only moment where some psychological and social issues are discussed. It's inevitable to think of this situation as applied to hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of relationships where someone, often some woman, could actually find herself stuck without knowing what awaits her. When you think you are part of something special but love is just a trick, and in reality, you are trapped in something you cannot escape.

In this sense, their solitude becomes the metaphor for something frightening and inescapable. Jim is definitely not a violent man and woke her up because he was lonely and desperate, he loves Aurora but it's evident that his love suffocates her and makes her die inside.

But the film pays no attention to any of this. The director has no intention of daring and finally tells us the usual good parable about the interstellar journey that ends well, where the good Samaritans all lived happily ever after.

A missed opportunity given the presence of pragmatically unlimited means and resources and of an actress who, in my opinion, is extraordinary but 'forced' into the role just like the character she plays. Chris Pratt's performance is acceptable; Laurence Fishburne is completely forgettable...

The best thing ultimately seems to be the character of Arthur, the brilliant bartender played by the excellent Michael Sheen. A character endowed with wit and irony and obviously great wisdom but also characterized by the typical naivety of robots that might be coincidental, but perhaps… Well, maybe after all that bartender really knows his stuff, defying every ethical code of robotics and Asimov's laws. I dare say, even in different films and roles and completely different contexts, his personality is so strong and brilliant that it reminded me of Michael Fassbender in 'Prometheus'. Brilliant.