Passengers {Movie review} | Yomna's Review

My rating: 10/10

One word comment: Spectacular 

And yes, this review contains spoilers!

I have to say, I am not disappointed by any measure. 

First of all, the star of the movie is amazing, and of course I'm not talking about Chris Pratt, I'm talking about Jennifer Lawrence. 

Jennifer Lawrence is spectacular in this movie. It reminded me of why I love her so much. She's just so talented and really brings on the emotion. The scenes where she was upset and unhappy or excited and delighted I really felt it all with her. Honestly, she's just such a phenomenal actress and I really don't get why anyone thinks she's overrated.

My favorite scenes are probably after Aurora finds out Jim woke her up. The raw emotion and feelings that I experience while watching is what makes Jennifer Lawrence so astounding.  

Chris Pratt is also incredible. The emotion he is able to invoke in viewers is incredible. I loved him in Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy, and in Passengers he does just as well. 

A movie with such a small cast needs actors who can deliver. And deliver they did. The other members of the cast include Lawrence Fishburne and Michael Sheen. I haven't really seen any of their movies before (at least none that I can remember) but they were both pretty damn outstanding in the movie.

I love the story of the movie, it feels original and exciting. 

So why is this movie so unpopular with critics? I mean the cast is fantastic and the story feels incredibly original. 

I mean honestly, with critics, there is really nothing to worry about. Critics will dislike everything for absolutely no justifiable reason, and for movies, critics represent the tiny insignificant minority (ouch, right?). Who cares about critics? We should start a revolution against them because honestly no one cares anymore.  

Some of the best movies have the worst critic ratings. Some critics think their job is to find everything wrong with something and rant about it. 

What's more important is the people who actually see the movie, who make up the vast majority of moviegoers. Critics are literally insignificant really. 

I was surprised to see that some people said that Passengers was misogynistic with a flawed story. I have to say that I strongly disagree. 

The idea of Passengers is about a man stranded alone on a ship, destined to die. The movie examines the human condition. The loneliness he feels is unquestionable (at one point he is close to committing suicide.) Jon Sphaits (the writer) wrote a script that asks the important and difficult questions. What would you do?

Like they say in the movie, Jim is very similar to a drowning man, he will do anything he thinks will save him. Loneliness causes him to wake up another passenger. And this movie I felt dealt with it appropriately. 

And I am not trying to justify his actions, because they are undoubtedly wrong, however, I strongly believe that everyone would've done the same thing had they been in the same situation. Besides the fact that Jim redeems himself in the end by allowing Aurora the choice she was never given. 

In this post, 'Umbragom' likens Passengers to a "rape fantasy". (Check out this whole message board here, it's pretty interesting.)

Umbragom obviously needs to get hold of a dictionary real fast and stop calling everyone 'kid'. Rape has a very clear definition that does not apply at all to this movie. 

Ultimately, yes, what Jim did is morally wrong, but he did not rape anyone. Aurora had her own choices after she woke up (she could've never talked to him if she wanted) and it's actually really insulting to call it a "rape fantasy". Not to mention that misuse of the term 'rape' is very problematic. 

Aurora is her own damn person, and in this movie, she made her own choices. Jim committed a crime yes, but he is redeemable. The whole point of the movie is this whole moral dilemma and what it means, and if it got you to think about it, then I think it has achieved its purpose.

Fortunately, most other moviegoers enjoyed the movie. The appeal of the actors is undeniable and the original story is endlessly appealing. 

The movie proceeds unflinching and really reflects on loneliness and what it can cause a person to do. Overall the movie is extremely outstanding and really worth the wait. It's definitely my favorite movie this year. 

Thanks,

Yomna