While it might seem strange to hear this, Rogue One has managed to
point out one of the most serious flaws in our movies: the heroes are
just too freaking perfect. I don't mean they are annoying simply
because they are good guys or that the whole “truth and justice”
thing has become any less compelling. Its just that, when a hero
emerges in a movie, whether he possesses superpowers or just a really
dry wit, they tend to be written as perfect specimens of humanity
rather than what they should be: selfish, egotistical people who,
when called upon, set aside their most human aspects for the greater
good. I might root for Captain America to catch the bad guy but I'd
still like to believe he has some kind of personal flaw that makes
him, you know, HUMAN. Now, with the failure of Morten Tyldum's
Passengers to make any kind of dent in the box office, it...appears
people disagree with this opinion. Go figure.
Yes, Passengers, despite having one of the easiest-to-dislike
protagonists in recent memory, is a passable sci-fi movie that at
least seems to understand its own tropes. Chris Pratt is still funny
and pulls off a strangely human performance as engineer Jim, Jennifer
Lawrence is just likable enough that the weird second act can almost
be forgiven, Michael Sheen is the second best robot of 2016 without
having to do anything outside of mix drinks and, even though you
don't see enough of it, the ship and space action is still enough fun
to justify its overly long run time. On top of all this, it finally
gives us something in a sci-fi movie that we actually need: a
protagonist that you can't in good conscience root for because of his
most selfish act. Say what you will about Pratt or his charming
onscreen presence. No amount of humor will ever overshadow the fact
that Jim is a bad person and, unlike pretty much every other movie
I've seen this year, it is a welcome change from the usual batch of
All-American (Captain America), socially conscious (Now You See Me
2), overly rote-with-humanity (Hacksaw Ridge) characters that seem to
permeate everything in movies over the last few years. He makes you
like him by hating yourself.
As for bad, why exactly is Laurence Fishburne in this movie? The guy
is a better actor than what this movie requires and to have someone
of his caliber here merely to spout sci-fi lingo and try to play
temporary peacemaker between the two leads almost feels trite in its
very concept. This, mixed with the wonky chemistry (which is also
mixed with the foreknowledge of how they came together), make this
otherwise passable sci-fi movie feel like some kind of back-handed
soap opera rather than anything meant to entertain. You don't tie
good actors into a bad game of will-they-won't-they just to extend
the run time, people!
As for watching it, are you a fan of Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence,
Michael Sheen or anything space travel related? Go for it and feel
bad about being a human who would totally do the same thing in the
same position. Have you managed to avoid the undeserving hype
surrounding the limited talents of Lawrence but think Pratt's pretty
awesome in most of his stuff? You'll get plenty of him to make up for
the unfortunate Lawrence presence but probably feel the awkwardness
when the big reveal (that you've known for an hour) is finally
exposed to all. Pick your poison.
Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) tries to make his Oscar-level
directing fit the sci-fi genre with passable results with Passengers,
a heavy on the charm, light on the brain, sci-fi romance with early
actions that are almost guaranteed to take you completely out of a
sympathetic state. Awakened 30 years into a 120 year spaceflight, Jim
(Pratt) must contend with the fact that he will die from old age long
before anyone else awakens on his space ark. Contemplating suicide,
he is given a new lease on life when he finds the pod of Aurora
(Lawrence) and, bear with me here, sabotages her stasis pod and
pretty much CONDEMNS HER TO THE SAME FATE. Romance ensues. Yeah, I
can totally see that working out for the best.
My score: 6/10. Is it weird that I completely understand Jim's
actions even though they took me completely out of the movie less
that thirty minutes in?
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