2/4

Passengers [2016] ★★

 passengersPicture this: you’re in hibernation mode, on your way to a distant planet where you’ll be starting a new life. The journey takes 120 years to reach its destination but somehow a glitch in the system occurs and you’re forced to wake up 90 years early. You’re all alone on a spacecraft and there’s absolutely no way to go back to sleep. What do you do? Original science-fiction ideas are hard to come by these days, especially in Hollywood, which is why “Passengers” scores points for both its intriguing premise and impressive visual effects…up to a point. And if you’re going to spend the next couple of hours with just two characters, they might as well be played by Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. But despite the great chemistry between the two leads and a striking production design by Guy Hendrix Dyas, the movie loses its momentum only halfway through, and the closer we get to the story’s finale the less interesting it becomes. Director Morten Tydlum (who gave us the superior “The Imitation Game” a couple of years ago) is working from a script written by Jon Spaihts, the man behind “Doctor Strange” and “Prometheus“. The final result isn’t a complete letdown, but considering the talented people behind it, you’d expect something better. Much much better.

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