'Passengers' - Movie Review

After a string of crap movies (Assassin's Creed, Skiptrace, Dragon Pearl, and Rogue One) it was a pleasure to get to one that didn't think action was the be-all and end-all and that actually required a little thought from its viewers. Don't get me wrong - "Passengers" has a couple action sequences - but it's more about the thought and morality.

Chris Pratt plays mechanical engineer Jim Preston, woken early on a 120 year trip to a planet called "Homestead II." 90 years early. With no way to go back into hibernation and an empty ship (except for robotic bartender Arthur, played by Michael Sheen), it takes about a year before he goes kind of crazy. There are eventually two other awakened passengers: Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) and Chief Deck Officer Gus (Laurence Fishburne). But the early awakenings turn out to be an indication of further problems with the ship itself ...

While perhaps not a great movie, it was a pleasure to watch an SF movie that had good characters, good writing, and a lot of thought behind it. (Huh - 31% on Rotten Tomatoes, other critics weren't nearly as interested as I was ...)