I thought the trailers made it look like they woke up at the same time, and so they ended up together purely by coincidence, and that how and why they woke up was a big mystery.
Passengers(2016)
- Thread starter RAMA
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^ That wouldn't have interested me as much. What we're getting is the movie I wanted to see.
Very much looking forward to this, not only do I love Jennifer Lawrence but Chris Pratt is a great screen presence as well and the look and vibe of this movie just looks great, there's just something really cool about the Zero-G "swimming" in the floating water scene.
I thought the twist was that there was no new great home at the end of the trip and it was a way to reduce Earth's population. After reading the reviews, I have no great desire to see this in the cinema or watch it any other way at any point in the future.
I never bought into the hype of this movie, but I'm always willing to give good sci-fi a chance. However, with the revelation of the plot twist, I'm definitely not spending my money on watching it in the theaters. If I hear after it comes out that this is overblown, then it'll be a rental.
From the commercials, my impression was that they were both intentionally woken up for some mysterious reason and for a reason most likely connected to that, the ship was trying to kill them. The Shining-esque robot bartender seemed to underscore this.
The counterargument that I've seen is that we are past the days of black and white heroes, where the good guy only does good (or, at least, the bad they do is in the name of good). I get that. No, I don't necessarily want to go back to those days, but a character should have to face up to their misdeeds and the reviews indicate that is not what happens here.
From the commercials, my impression was that they were both intentionally woken up for some mysterious reason and for a reason most likely connected to that, the ship was trying to kill them. The Shining-esque robot bartender seemed to underscore this.
The counterargument that I've seen is that we are past the days of black and white heroes, where the good guy only does good (or, at least, the bad they do is in the name of good). I get that. No, I don't necessarily want to go back to those days, but a character should have to face up to their misdeeds and the reviews indicate that is not what happens here.
Take Cassian for example. When we meet him, he murders someone in cold blood to avoid drawing the attention of the Storm Troopers. However, he acknowledges this and it is what drives him to go with Jyn at the end of the movie. He says he has done some really bad things in the name of the cause. He owns up to it. It made him a more interesting character.
that sucks. probably correct, but the takeaway always seems to be that Sci Fi movies don't sell, that must be the problem, etc.
Not that it was rapey, ignored the big stuff it could have done, and went generic action in the 3rd act instead of thinking it through.
Really wanted to like this one, had planned on seeing it, but thinking it's a rental now. Want more GOOD sci fi...
Not that it was rapey, ignored the big stuff it could have done, and went generic action in the 3rd act instead of thinking it through.
Really wanted to like this one, had planned on seeing it, but thinking it's a rental now. Want more GOOD sci fi...
I just saw the movie.
This notion that it's some creepy rapey movie is completely overblown. It's like someone said something along those lines and now word-of-mouth is snowballing out of control.
Yes, the trailers are misleading but there's no mystery or twist. It's a straightforward story about a guy on a sleeper ship who woke up 90 years too early and then made the decision to wake up someone else to keep him company for the remainder of the journey, esssentially condemning that person to live and die on that ship. Chris Pratt's character, the guy in question, isn't creepy or stalkerish. He simply stumbles upon a pod with Jennifer Lawrence's character, obviously finds her attractive and looks her up on the computer to learn more about her like he's reading someone's Facebook page or looking at their YouTube channel. Then after months of agonizing over whether or not he should or wake her, he makes a bad judgement call and wakes her up, then has a bit of a panic attack over what he did but what's done is done.
If anything is unsettling it's two things... He condemned her to live out her life and die on that ship, and he perpetuated a big deception by getting romantically involved without her knowing what he did.
Those two things don't occupy the whole movie though. The story does broaden because something else is happening. And ultimately, the movie has two saving graces, if you can call them that.
and... (don't click on the tag below if you ever plan to see the movie.)
A few other points...
The Good
This notion that it's some creepy rapey movie is completely overblown. It's like someone said something along those lines and now word-of-mouth is snowballing out of control.
Yes, the trailers are misleading but there's no mystery or twist. It's a straightforward story about a guy on a sleeper ship who woke up 90 years too early and then made the decision to wake up someone else to keep him company for the remainder of the journey, esssentially condemning that person to live and die on that ship. Chris Pratt's character, the guy in question, isn't creepy or stalkerish. He simply stumbles upon a pod with Jennifer Lawrence's character, obviously finds her attractive and looks her up on the computer to learn more about her like he's reading someone's Facebook page or looking at their YouTube channel. Then after months of agonizing over whether or not he should or wake her, he makes a bad judgement call and wakes her up, then has a bit of a panic attack over what he did but what's done is done.
If anything is unsettling it's two things... He condemned her to live out her life and die on that ship, and he perpetuated a big deception by getting romantically involved without her knowing what he did.
Those two things don't occupy the whole movie though. The story does broaden because something else is happening. And ultimately, the movie has two saving graces, if you can call them that.
If Jim hadn't woken up and if he hadn't woken up another person, everyone on the ship would have perished.
and... (don't click on the tag below if you ever plan to see the movie.)
Jim discovers a way to get Aurora back into suspended animation, so she is given a choice once again.
A few other points...
The Good
- The movie is visually stunning as you can see from the trailers.
- It deals with some of the issues that might arise on a sleeper ship head on. It's not a romance disguised as sci fi. It's sci fi.
- You'll learn a bit about both characters during a brief exchange as well as why they chose to get on the ship. What they say is interesting and could only happen in a movie like this.
- Though it does tackle the problems involved with being on a sleeper ship, it doesn't touch on everything. The food issue comes to mind and I'm sure that a lot of you will pick up on other things.
- The movie can be predictable at times.
- SPOILERS... Some of you might not like or agree with the outcome.
- The line "We woke up for a reason." isn't in the movie.
- There was one scene that reminded me of the "Alice Eve in her underwear" scene from STID, though the one in this movie was a lot tamer even though Lawrence wasn't wearing... Oh, go see the movie.
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I wasn't planning on going to see the movie anyway as the design of the ship looks ridiculous to me -- it's supposedly based on a sycamore seed -- and much better stories about sleeper and generational ships have been told in literary SF.
http://www.space.com/34909-passengers-movie-starship-design-qanda.html
http://www.space.com/34909-passengers-movie-starship-design-qanda.html
Really, you think that is all acceptable? I personally think it's disgusting and I certainly don't plan on watching it.
^ Stumbling on her pod by chance, getting curious about her and looking at the videos she recorded didn't play out as badly as I thought it could have and I think that whole bit was only a few minutes of the movie. Waking her up, condemning her to a certain life and not telling her what he did was the unsettling part, but it was a story I wanted to see.
Could have been worse, could have been flipping through a database (or binder full of women 
) looking for a hottie to wake up...
Plays a little better if it's more of a chance thing, and then just doing homework to see if she's someone he can live with or not, I guess. Still not great, obviously.
Personally, I'd wake up the guy who knows how to fix the sleeper pods. less sexy, but means I've got a better shot at the general population, and won't grow old and die en route as well.
) looking for a hottie to wake up...Plays a little better if it's more of a chance thing, and then just doing homework to see if she's someone he can live with or not, I guess. Still not great, obviously.
Personally, I'd wake up the guy who knows how to fix the sleeper pods. less sexy, but means I've got a better shot at the general population, and won't grow old and die en route as well.
I was looking forward to this movie because it looked like this year's great late-year sci-fi movie, in the line of "Interstellar," "Gravity," and "The Martian," but the early things I was reading about this strike mas the movie will fall short of that expectations.
Like others, I assumed that they had woken up due to some 4th wall ex machina/mysterious or alien reason but when I heard what happens I, well, naturally that gut reaction impacted me. It's hard to see how we're supposed to relate to sympathize with a character when he cyber-stalks someone then wakes her up dooming her to a largely lonely fate and death. That something romantic develops makes it even more creepy because it's hard to "buy" the romance as being 100% legit given, you-know, the Stockholm-y aspects of things. She only falls for him because she has literally no other choice. No matter how little he may tame/condition or manipulate her into a relationship it's still a relationship that's born from his initial action and due to fact she has literally no other choice so when biological and emotional needs assert themselves it's hardly 100% legit when there's only one person for her to go to.
But then someone in a comment section pointed something out that made me reconsider the main character's actions.
Would you do anything different?
If you were Chris Pratt's character's position: you wake up alone on this ship and there's no way for you to go back into hibernation. You know you're doomed to live out the rest of your life, alone, on the ship. As you explore your surroundings and make sense of your early days you find yourself attracted to one of the other "passengers" and you find out all about him or her through the ship's records/"social media."
Would you not do the same? Can you honestly say you'd live out the next several decades of your life utterly alone or would you not be tempted to wake up a companion and would that person not likely be someone you have an attraction to (sexual or not) and learned about through the computer?
Is such a situation not worth exploring and contemplating?
It's a fucked up situation and fucked up situations can make for the most compelling stories. It'd seem that those behind this movie didn't quite have the "talent" to 100% pull off this script and such, but it could be a story worth exploring. And the movie for me does look to have some cool visuals, like Lawrence swimming through the water blob when the gravity shuts off, and Pratt and Lawrence are charismatic as hell actors.
So, I dunno. The movie might be worth a look-see. I don't think it'll be "the" Sci-Fi movie of the year, guess I'll give that to Arrival. But the visual and look of it does seem to have the same "grand scope" as those movies in past years (as good as it was, something lacking in Arrival. The awe of it all.) But the premise in it could be worth exploring and seeing through. Yeah, the main character gets one hell of a handicap to redeem himself from but, again, would you be no different in such a situation?
Like others, I assumed that they had woken up due to some 4th wall ex machina/mysterious or alien reason but when I heard what happens I, well, naturally that gut reaction impacted me. It's hard to see how we're supposed to relate to sympathize with a character when he cyber-stalks someone then wakes her up dooming her to a largely lonely fate and death. That something romantic develops makes it even more creepy because it's hard to "buy" the romance as being 100% legit given, you-know, the Stockholm-y aspects of things. She only falls for him because she has literally no other choice. No matter how little he may tame/condition or manipulate her into a relationship it's still a relationship that's born from his initial action and due to fact she has literally no other choice so when biological and emotional needs assert themselves it's hardly 100% legit when there's only one person for her to go to.
But then someone in a comment section pointed something out that made me reconsider the main character's actions.
Would you do anything different?
If you were Chris Pratt's character's position: you wake up alone on this ship and there's no way for you to go back into hibernation. You know you're doomed to live out the rest of your life, alone, on the ship. As you explore your surroundings and make sense of your early days you find yourself attracted to one of the other "passengers" and you find out all about him or her through the ship's records/"social media."
Would you not do the same? Can you honestly say you'd live out the next several decades of your life utterly alone or would you not be tempted to wake up a companion and would that person not likely be someone you have an attraction to (sexual or not) and learned about through the computer?
Is such a situation not worth exploring and contemplating?
It's a fucked up situation and fucked up situations can make for the most compelling stories. It'd seem that those behind this movie didn't quite have the "talent" to 100% pull off this script and such, but it could be a story worth exploring. And the movie for me does look to have some cool visuals, like Lawrence swimming through the water blob when the gravity shuts off, and Pratt and Lawrence are charismatic as hell actors.
So, I dunno. The movie might be worth a look-see. I don't think it'll be "the" Sci-Fi movie of the year, guess I'll give that to Arrival. But the visual and look of it does seem to have the same "grand scope" as those movies in past years (as good as it was, something lacking in Arrival. The awe of it all.) But the premise in it could be worth exploring and seeing through. Yeah, the main character gets one hell of a handicap to redeem himself from but, again, would you be no different in such a situation?
So there's no one on the ship who could fix his pod who he could just wake up instead of waking up the hot girl?