In sci-fi movies, there is nothing more evocative than the sight of a vast, empty spacecraft floating through the cosmos. The image fires up recollections of such classics as Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey or Ridley Scott's Alien.
While Passengers – directed by Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) might reach for the stars and yearn to be cruise alongside these titans, it falls woefully short. True, it is neither a contemplation of humanity's place in the universe, like Kubrick's film, nor a terrifying space-horror, like Scott's. Rather it is Robinson Crusoe meets Romeo and Juliet. In space.
Chris Pratt plays Jim Preston, a mechanical engineer. One of 5,000 passengers on the starship Avalon, he is in perfect hibernation while the sleek vessel is on a 120-year journey from Earth to a colony planet known only as Homestead II – until the ship malfunctions.
His pod springs open, just 30 years into the voyage. With the rest of the crew still in hibernation, he faces the prospect of dying alone in space as the ship slowly moves towards a paradise planet he will not live to see.
Written by Jon Spaihts (who co-wrote Scott's divisive Alien prequel, Prometheus), this first act is the most interesting, as Preston must cope with solitude and the vastness of space.
With his only company an android bartender named Arthur (voiced by Michael Sheen) – in scenes reminiscent of Kubrick's horror The Shining, with its equally desolate, empty hotel, the Overlook – he grows a bushy beard and begins to despair. But even here, Tyldum never quite manages to convey the sheer horror of Preston's situation.
Rather, the traveller finds a possible saviour in the shape of journalist Aurora Dunn (Jennifer Lawrence). Watching her sleep peacefully in her pod, he is entranced, looks up her profile in the ship’s records and begins to fantasise about her. Eventually, he decides to open her pod.
Naturally, she is distraught that she too will wither and die in space. No prizes for guessing what happens next, with two hot A-list stars on board alone – but can love survive in the vacuum of space?
Visually, the film has some standout moments. As the ship malfunctions, gravity goes haywire and the water in a swimming pool Aurora spends a lot of time in suddenly floats into the air, with her trapped within its mass.
There is also a small, but significant, role for Laurence Fishburne, his presence a reminder of 1997's Event Horizon, another huge-ship-in-space tale.
But Passengers is ultimately a romance among the stars, as Pratt and Lawrence must negotiate each other as much as their situation.
Recalling his Guardians of the Galaxy role – that of effervescent space traveller Starlord – Pratt is supremely watchable even in an underwritten, effects-driven blockbuster. His insouciant charm works to a tee, though Lawrence has much less to do in a role that fails to fully use her skills.
Perhaps it is because this is a more adult character than she has played in the past, but she feels too quirky for such a straightforward romance.
By the end, it is not only their fellow passengers who will be dozing.
* James Mottram
