PASSENGERS   3.2 ***

          PASSENGERS is romantic film surrounded by breathtaking sci-fi. After so many survival films about one man only or one woman only, on an island or in space , it's nice to see a survival film with two people and nobody else for a change. And with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence as the leads, this is a  adventure you can't keep your eyes off of.

The story is set onboard a spaceship transporting more than 5000 people to a new life on another planet, It's supposed to be a 120-year journey but  with 90 years yet to go, a meteorite strikes the ship and, among other things, causes Chris Pratt's character, Jim's hibernation pod to open prematurely. He cannot reactivate the hibernation pod and is all alone  except for a bartender droid Arthur. He knows he will die before the other pods open which is to be 4 months before the landing. Having spent a year all by himself , Jim decides to intentionally wake up a woman for companionship. That woman is Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence). As they begin to unravel the mystery behind the malfunction, they fall in love, but when certain truths come to surface, they find their spaceship and their lives falling apart.

Chris Pratt is a fine actor, playing a character that is humorous, and emotionally driven at the same time. Jennifer Lawrence is a beautiful actress that gives her best with her role as well. Seeing the two together is perfect chemistry on screen. This is also a  movie with stunning visual effects from artists  with extraordinary imaginations and creativity.

This is a  sleek, romantic film, boy meets girl in a pod, boy wakes girl up, boy falls for girl and girl for boy. Add in  the million and one things that the super ultra, high-tech spaceship can do is also enough to make any sci-fi fan go, 'Whoa, that's super cool.'

It  is a compelling story about a relationship and whether it can survive cosmic ordeals as well as a BIG lie…..a romantic drama set in space confronted by catastrophic deadly event.

Rated PG-13 for sexuality, partial nudity and action/peril

Clark

PS: I really liked this movie. I’m a big sci-fi fan and then add in 2 of my favorite actors in the lead roles. It has been heavily criticized for having a somewhat unbelievable ending. But what the heck, it’s sci-fi and it’s fun to stretch reality. If you are going to nit-pick at unreality then why go to sci-fi movies at all. I agree a story can exceed the boundaries of a good sci-fi, but “PASSENGERS” doesn’t.