Just Along For The Ride..."Passengers"

Passengers (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Sheen

Directed by Morten Tyldum

The Story:

A starship traveling making a 120 year journey to inhabit a new space colony with over 5,000 souls onboard has a malfunction, and a pod containing Jim Preston (Pratt) opens early. 90 years early. With the prospect of dying long before he arrives, Jim tries everything he can to get help from the crew or to put himself back into hibernation. After over a year alone, Jim stumbles upon Aurora (Lawrence) and then wrestles with the decision of whether to wake her up, resigning her to share his fate, or leave her be. You've seen the trailers, you know what he's going to choose.

The question is, wouldn't you do the same thing?

The movie was very clever in the marketing of this film. Never once did they reveal the giant elephant in the room:

Do you wake someone else up, effectively committing murder as they too will die long before there is help, or do you remain alone?

The movie tackles the situation in probably the best way it can, and with the introduction of another character as the movie heads into the final act, it is summed up perfectly on why Jim made the choice he did, and why it is a decision that probably anyone else would make as well.

The moral dilemma aside, the movie itself is beautiful, both in the space sequences as well as just the impressive visuals of imagination that went into the starship.

Adding Michael Sheen to the mix as the third wheel in the relationship helps break the monotony and allows the characters a chance to interact with someone else.

He's also a good reason why you can't trust androids with your secrets.

: )

Final Grade: B-