Movie Reviews - Passengers

IF THE filmmakers had focused more on the story, instead of betting on the two hugely-popular leads to carry the film, this movie would be so much ­better.
On board the ­Starship Avalon on its 120-year voyage to a distant ­colony planet known as Homestead II, there are over 5,000 ­passengers and crew who are in special ­hibernation pods that are ­programmed to awaken them only when they are about to arrive at their ­destination.
However, ­mechanical engineer Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) is woken up early and, to his horror, finds out that he has 90 years to go before the end of the voyage.
Initially, he tries to make do with his situation with android bartender Arthur (Martin Sheen) as his lone companion.
Eventually, the loneliness get to him, and just as he is ­contemplating taking his own life, he sees Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) sleeping ­serenely in her pod and falls in love.
He finds out more about her life prior to this voyage (she is a ­journalist who wants to write about her space travels), and decides to wake her up.
Aurora is initially confused and angry about her situation, but has no clue that Jim is the one ­responsible. They eventually start a relationship, but when Arthur reveals what happened, ­Aurora wants nothing to do with Jim.
However, it soon becomes ­apparent that the ship is ­malfunctioning and may never reach its destination.
Actor Laurence Fishburne is completely wasted in a brief role as Chief Gus Mancuso who is also awakened, but finds out that he will die shortly due to his own pod malfunctioning. Making things worse, another acclaimed actor, Andy Garcia, has an even smaller role that will make you question why he was even cast.
There are so many scenes in this movie that will remind you of other films but the saddest part is the lack of chemistry between the leads.
It is not a bad movie, but it is not great either.
Watch the trailer here :