There’s a type of actor in Hollywood who, despite being extremely talented at what they do, is incapable of starring in what most people would consider to be a “good” movie. There’s even a whole list dedicated to naming those actors, but we’re certain that you can name at least one off the top of your head. However, there are also movies that, despite having some of the most talented names involved, are just so insultingly bad (think Thor: Love and Thunder) that you can’t help but wonder how much these Hollywood actors were paid to be involved.
Yet, if you’re a connoisseur of bad movies and aren’t afraid to jump feet-first into another one, then run — not walk — over to Netflix, where you’ll find the motherlode: Passengers, the 2016 sci-fi romance film from director Morten Tyldum (of The Imitation Game fame). Never has something fit the “stellar cast, awful movie” formula quite like this one. And yet, Passengers is currently climbing the Netflix charts, despite the fact that it’s an extremely flawed film that’s only worsened with age.
Featuring huge names like Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, and Andy Garcia, the worst thing about Passengers is that it had every chance to be one of the most interesting space films of the 2010s. Instead, everyone is wasted on one of the creepiest “love” stories of the century.
Pratt stars as Jim Preston, a mechanical engineer aboard the interstellar spaceship Avalon. The ship is headed to Homestead II, a new colony that will take 120 light-years from Earth. Disaster strikes when Jim is accidentally awakened from cryo-sleep 90 years earlier than planned, with no way to go back under. Fated to die before he’ll even come close to his destination, Jim finds solace in another sleeping passenger, Aurora (Lawrence). Unbearably lonely, he sabotages her pod, waking her up to suffer the same fate alongside him.
The question Tyldum poses to the audience, with a premise as fascinating as this one, is undeniably compelling. Faced with a life by yourself, what would you do in Jim’s position? And, to the director’s credit, Tyldum perfectly highlights that, as lonely as Jim may have been, he has just effectively doomed someone to the same fate. The word “murder” is thrown around several times, and there’s even a truly bewitching scene where Lawrence’s physical acting is really given the chance to shine to encapsulate the terrible choice that Jim has made for her.
Tyldum commits to shining a spotlight on Jim’s sins against Aurora in the first half of the movie, but that makes the second half of Passengers feel so out of touch with reality. When the movie debuted on December 21, 2016, critical reception swung from Passengers’ love story being seen as an intergalactic version of the Titanic to others calling it a “fantasy of Stockholm syndrome.”
The latter description of fantasy feels far more apt. Alongside genuinely riveting scenes in which we see Aurora scream and despair once realizing that her life has been robbed from her, there are moments in which characters (all male, notably) empathize with Jim’s decision solely because Aurora is attractive and Jim was lonely. Oh, well, that’s alright then!
I don’t believe that movies should be made solely about good people, or that films should never touch on complex topics. However, Tyldum doesn’t follow through on exploring the ethical consequences in a way that befits the narrative stakes. Instead, he resorts to a stereotypical, sappy romance that any reasonable person would cringe at. This makes for such an odd contrast that, at times, it feels as though the director wants his cake and to eat it too. The result is a film that doesn’t know what it wants to be and thus wastes everyone’s time.
When it comes down to brass tacks, it becomes obvious that Passengers was made for people with a very specific fantasy in mind: being locked on a spaceship for 89 years with Jennifer Lawrence and hoping she develops just enough Stockholm syndrome to fall in love with you. If that is not your particular fantasy, you may find Passengers hard to stomach.
Passengers is available to stream on Netflix or for free on Tubi.