![]() ![]() In a movie full of weak dialogue, ridiculous character development, and general creepiness, J Lawr delivers on the emotion. I have to hand it to Jennifer Lawrence here. Thanks to Aurora's blissful ignorance, the two fall in love, and everything seems hunky-dory (I mean, despite the impending death thing), until Arthur accidentally spills the beans. Much has already been written about how terrible this is, but let me just reiterate: He. 2: To makes things worse, Jim engages in a sexual relationship with the woman he has just sentenced to a long, slow, death - admittedly, surrounded by luxury amenities and sushi-serving robots - without telling her about his part in her fate. The movie very straightforwardly shows us Jim waking Aurora, rather than letting us find out when she does (she doesn't realize he woke her she thinks it was a glitch), which could have added a modicum of suspense. Strangely enough, this isn't even a spoiler. The downside: He basically just committed murder. Except that will never happen because Jim, who is obsessed with this sleeping, voiceless woman, decides that he is in love with her ("She speaks to me!" he tells Arthur, after reading her work.) and wakes her up. Wanting to break the story of a lifetime, Aurora signs up to make the first trip to Homestead II and back again, arriving on Earth 250 years after she first left. Aurora - the Sleeping Beauty reference is no coincidence - is a journalist, whose father is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. In a moment of desperation, Jim comes across Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) in her pod, and mesmerized by her blonde beauty, stalks her online. However, that in no way justifies what comes next. (Honestly, I never thought I would feel true feelings about Chris Pratt one way or another, so this was a welcome surprise.) His descent into severe depression - he even considers suicide by jumping into space without a suit on - sparked by intense loneliness is actually a little harrowing to watch. He is understandably distraught at the prospect of spending the rest of his life trapped alone in this suburban-mall-meets-Apple-Store spaceship with only an android bartender named Arthur (Michael Sheen) for company. The first hint that this is a horror movie comes when Chris Pratt's character, Jim Preston, wakes up from his deep artificial sleep 90 years early. The plan is for them to wake up four months before landing and take advantage of the full range of entertainment this ship has to offer. Because the trip takes 120 years, and somehow the human life span hasn't increased despite astounding technological advances, the passengers must all be put into hibernation mode. We are several hundred years in the future, and this space equivalent of a Carnival cruise ship is transporting 5,000 brave souls to an interstellar colony called Homestead II, where they will somehow find purpose. We begin this tale of woe on the Starship Avalon. It is a horror film, masquerading as something you should bring your mom to see over Christmas break. It is not, as the trailer implies, a sci-fi love story. And yet, I regret to inform you that this movie is not what it seems. It had everything I want from a holiday-season blockbuster: sex, romance, and Jennifer Lawrence's cry face. Warning: This story contains mild spoilers for Passengers. ![]()
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