Passengers

Jim [Chris Pratt] wakes up from his sleep on a colony spaceship, and is horrified to discover he has been revived 90 years too early, alone, with no way to go back into hibernation. After spending nearly a year alone on the ship, going suicidally mad with loneliness, he eventually awakens another passenger, Aurora [Jennifer Lawrence]. Initially, she thinks she revived by accident, too, and the pair gradually fall in love. But when she discovers he woke her deliberately, she is bitterly angry that he has stolen the life she had planned. Then consequences from the accident that woke Jim start to threatens disaster for the entire ship… starship Avalon

This are deep moral questions here. Jim knows that waking Aurora is wrong, and he wrestles with it for a long time (months, not minutes), but in the end, the loneliness is too much for him to bear, and he gives in. He does compound his sin by then lying to her, but I suppose given he woke her for company, having her not talking to him would rather defeat the object. Although, by the time she finds out for herself, he does rather seem to have forgotten there’s an issue in need of resolution.

Some of the physics is right, such as the system response when Jim sends a distress message home. There are some good special effects when the ship starts going wrong, especially from the effect of reduced gravity on the pool. But the reignition of the engine sequence is just plain bonkers, as is the spaciousness and luxury of the colony ship itself. I also think that when the rest of the colonists wake up near their destination, they are not going to be happy with how much of their provisions and other resources have already been consumed…

Nevertheless, an interesting take on the “hibernation colony ship to the stars” subgenre.

Rating: 3.5

[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

reviewed 12 January 2019