Passengers (2016)

Passengers - 2016

Our next film is the futuristic "Passengers", released in 2016, and starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt.  The film is set on the starship Avalon as it rockets towards the planet Homestead II for colonization.  The ship is hit by a meteor and sustains damage resulting in the wakening of a hibernating passenger and sets in motion a chain of events that could forever alter the course of the Avalon and all on board.

The film's small supporting cast includes Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, and Andy Garcia.

The starship houses a large number of sleeping passengers who are in hibernation for the 120 years it takes to reach their destination.

When a meteor hits the ship, a malfunction occurs which results in the awakening of passenger Jim Preston, ninety years too soon.

Jim comes to realize that he is the sole person awake on the journey and it profoundly affects him.  He frantically tries to find a way to get back into hyper-sleep, trying to reprogram his hibernation pod.  He fails and realizes there is no way to fix it.

He does make one connection at the bar, the android bartender Arthur.  Arthur comes to be Jim's sanity, someone to talk to, someone to listen.

Arthur tells Jim to let go and live a little.  So, Jim starts to explore the ship.  He finds an Asian-styled restaurant.

There's also a Mexican-themed restaurant, complete with a Spanish speaking robot named Hector.

There's also a beautiful pool, plus basketball courts, movie studio, and dance-a-thon studio.

Jim understandably can't help but still feel lonely.  He takes a solitary spacewalk, contemplating suicide.  At the last second, he can't bring himself to do it.

Among the ships' passengers, he finds writer Aurora Lane.  He is drawn to her.  On the computer, he reads her file, some of her writing, and watches some of her videos.  He makes the decision to wake her up.  He finds a way to program her hibernation pod to open, but tells her it was the fault of the starship, like his awakening was.

After the shock and disbelief begins to subside, Jim and Aurora begin connecting, spending all of their time together.

Eventually, he works up the courage to ask her out on a date.  She, of course, is thrilled.

They begin with a drink at the bar and then move on to the ship's Parisian-themed restaurant, followed by a spacewalk.  Jim and Aurora begin to fall in love.

Aurora eventually finds out the truth and can't stand the sight of Jim.  However, as more and more systems on board the ship fail and another passenger, Gus, wakes up, their personal problems take a backseat.  Gus is the Chief Deck Officer on board the ship, and his credentials allow them access to places on the ship that they were previously denied.  However, Gus is extremely ill, a byproduct of his premature awakening.

During the night, the gravity fails on the ship, resulting in a catastrophe.

Aurora is in the pool when it happens and struggles to breathe as water comes crashing down on her on all sides.  Just in time, the gravity is restored to normal.

After Gus's death and the discovery and subsequent repair of a hole in the ship, Jim and Aurora find the real problem.  A massive reactor fire has started and the only way to stop it is for Jim to manually open the vent hatch to vent the reactor.  He does this and nearly loses his life, being saved by Aurora, who realizes her love for him.

Jim discovers a way that Aurora can get back into hyper-sleep.  She decides to live out the remainder of her days with Jim on board the Avalon.  They set about making the ship their own, and 90 years later, as the Avalon approaches the planet Homestead II, the crew wakes to the scene above.

Cast rundown:

   Jennifer Lawrence................................Aurora Lane

   Chris Pratt..........................................Jim Preston

   Michael Sheen.....................................Arthur

   Laurence Fishburne.............................Gus Mancuso

   Andy Garcia........................................Captain Norris

And that's all for Passengers.  It's an action-packed, beautifully filmed movie.  The production designer did a beautiful job creating a lot of different themes for the Avalon.  He was awarded the Excellence in Production Design for a Fantasy Film Award by the Art Directors Guild.  Much deserved.

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