Kaserynofthegyre Review of Passengers

Passengers (I) (2016)

Curious levels of hate for this reasonable romance

[7/10 · 2 January 2017]

Most of the anger seems to be about the moral dilemma that Chris Pratt's character faces and his response to it. Clearly many of the critics feel he made a bad choice. However they seem to be glossing over the fact that he knows what he's doing is wrong (he even has an expository chat with the robot barman to ensure we all get the implications). He's already tried, and failed, to kill himself at this point so it's not like he's acting on a whim and his self loathing is evident. The fact that Jennifer Lawrence's character finds a way to forgive him is crime is held up as a 'message' from the filmmakers that stalking is OK cos she'll come around in the end. Really? Leaving aside that 'stalking' is hardly the right term for such an extreme scenario she has the opportunity to kill him - which he knowingly gives her - and chooses not to take it - facing effectively the same dilemma as Pratt's character faced and coming to a similar realisation - the alternative to this extreme choice is suicide. (If she chose hibernation at the end of the film she knows he will kill himself) She chooses compassion. I've read here someone claiming the robot bartender 'sold him out' No he didn't. In the dialogue he is told that the two characters 'have no secrets from each other' and he - being a robot - believes them. (See the collected works of Issac Asimov for full details) There are problems with this film - the resurrection and convenient death of a crew member seems only to occur to get past a plot obstacle -and yes the usual Hollywood requirement is that the leads are both impossibly good looking - but the visuals are impressive and the cast do a good job. The more I reflect on the film the more I like it.