Summary
Jennifer Lawrence’s divisive moviePassengersis now a hit on streaming eight years after its release, and its success is perfectly timed ahead of her next sci-fi film. FromThe Hunger Gamesfranchise andmother!toNo Hard FeelingsandSilver Linings Playbook,Jennifer Lawrence’s movieshave seen her traverse several genres to varying levels of critical and commercial success. In 2016,Lawrence took her big jump into the sci-fi realm with the moviePassengers, which fared well at the box office but struggled to impress critics upon release.
Jennifer Lawrence & Chris Pratt’s Passengers Is Now Trending On Prime Video – What The 2016 Sci-Fi Movie Is About
Passengers Is Trending On Streaming Eight Years After Its Release
Directed byThe Imitation Game’s Morten Tyldum and written byDuneandDune: Part Two’s Jon Spaihts,Passengersfollows the story ofAurora Lane (Lawrence) and Jim Preston (Pratt), two passengers on an interstellar ship taking thousands of people from Earth to a colony that takes 120 years to travel to. When Jim is accidentally awoken from his hibernation pod 90 years ahead of schedule, his loneliness after a year on the ship alone leads him to reluctantly decide to awaken fellow passenger Aurora. However, rather than tell her the truth, Jim lets Aurora believe her release was a system malfunction.
Passengersis trending at #4 on Prime Video in the US afterMission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,The Boys, andBatman: Caped Crusader.
Serving as asci-fi romance genre hybrid,Passengers’ main characters also fall in loveover the course of the year that they are the only two people awake on the spacecraft. Of course, Jim’s actions in releasing Aurora soon come to light, with matters getting worse once another pod malfunction leads to deck chief officer Gus (Laurence Fishburne) waking up from his induced hibernation. Jim and Aurora must then risk their lives to help fix other damaged aspects of the ship, withPassengers’ divisive endingleaving the couple with a massive decision to make regarding their relationship and futures.
Passengers: Differences Between Original Script’s Ending & Final Film
Passengers has been heavily-criticized for its third act turns and twists, but its original screenplay had a darker, yet less confused finale.
While the intriguing story led to a relatively successful box office haul,Passengersonly holds a 30% critics score on the review aggregator siteRotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, the movie fares relatively better with audiences, holding a more positive 63% score. With audiences,Passengersis often seen as among the more underratedsci-fi movies of the last decade, as several reviews note the cast’s compelling performances and its enjoyable nature as an easy-to-watch popcorn flick.
30%
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Why Passengers Is So Divisive
The 2016 Movie’s Central Romance Divided Critics
Thedriving factor behindPassengers’ divisive reception is its narrative, particularly the basis of how the main couple’s relationship is formedin the movie. Some reviews positively compared the sci-fi movie’s story to films likeJames Cameron’s romantic disaster classicTitanicand the sci-fi thrillerGravity. Meanwhile, some less favorable reviews criticized the narrative and romantic resolution given the manipulation by Chris Pratt’s character, comparing his actions to a disturbing dynamic between captor and captive.
After becoming infatuated with the sleeping Aurora, Jim effectively takes her life, future, and dreams away from her by taking her out of the pods for his own self-gratification and potential happiness.
Critical reviews have described Jim as a character with levels of stalking, creepiness, and violent intentions that aren’t effectively contended with or condemned by the film. After becoming infatuated with the sleeping Aurora, Jim effectively takes her life, future, and dreams away from her by taking her out of the pods for his own self-gratification and potential happiness. Even though Aurora becomes angry at him when discovering that he purposefully released her,Passengersdoesn’t fully drive home the grave, cruel consequences of his actions, instead softening the impact in order to give him his happy romantic ending.
Adele Warned Jennifer Lawrence Not To Do Sci-Fi Movie With Chris Pratt
Jennifer Lawrence recalls English singer/songwriter Adele warning her against taking the doomed role in the 2016 sci-fi movie Passengers.
The film’s critical synopsis on Rotten Tomatoes sums up the divisive nature of the film best: “Passengers proves Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence work well together – and that even their chemistry isn’t enough to overcome a fatally flawed story.” The controversy overPassengers’ central romance was even commented on by Lawrence, who agreed that opening with her character waking up could have improved the story’s efficacy (viaEW). WhileAliensuccessfully lived up to its “Jawsin space” comparison,Passengers’ “Titanicin space”-style premise didn’t quite work, as Jack had never forced Rose into his life through prolonged manipulation.
Jennifer Lawrence’s Upcoming Sci-Fi Movie Can Redeem Passengers' Controversial Story
Lawrence’s Next Sci-Fi Movie Is Produced By A24
WhilePassengersis still Lawrence’s biggest sci-fi venture, the Oscar winner is finally returning to the genre after several years.Lawrence is tapped to star in A24’s upcoming adaptation ofWhy Don’t You Love Me?, a dark sci-fi comedy based on the same-named 2023 graphic novel. A24 has produced some of the most remarkable sci-fi movies of the last decade, such asEx-Machina,The Lobster, andEverything Everywhere All at Once, which is highly optimistic for Lawrence’s upcoming sci-fi movie. AfterPassengers,Jennifer Lawrence’sWhy Don’t You Love Me?can give her a critically acclaimed sci-fi hit.
Passengers
Cast
Set on a colony ship carrying hibernating human passengers to a distant alien world, Passengers stars Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt as Aurora and Jim, two passengers on the ship who are awakened from their induced sleep almost a century too early. As the two begin to come to terms with their isolation and start to form a bond, Aurora begins to suspect that Jim is not as innocent in the accident as he claims to be.
