jennifer lawrence and chris pratt
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt are lost in space in the predicable sci-fi thriller 'Passengers'
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt are two of Hollywood's most charming on-screen presences, and they trade on that star quality for as long as they can in "Passengers." Unfortunately, that turns out to be not long enough. Sweet but inconsequential at its best, overly contrived at most other times, "Passengers" takes too long to get to its too inevitable plot points to truly entertain. All that is especially frustrating because not only does "Passengers" have those two appealing performers, it has a fine director in Morten Tyldum, an engaging visual look and a premise that seems to offer potential audience enjoyment. But even Tyldum, responsible for the excellent "The Imitation Game" as well as "Headhunters" in his native Norway, has been unable to genuinely ignite a science fiction story that sounds better in outline than it plays out in detail. Basically a "Dating Game" version of Robinson Crusoe with some unsurprising outer space jeopardy thrown in, "Passengers" wonders what would happen if two attractive people found themselves the only folks unfortunately awake and active on a spaceship hurtling into the future.
Passengers Trailer: Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt Are Ship Outta Luck
Ever have one of those mornings where you plop out of bed, rub your eyes, and realize you've woken up ninety years earlier than you'd originally planned? That's the set-up for Passengers, the forthcoming sci-fi thriller in which Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt play intergalactic travelers whose 120-year hibernation aboard the spaceship Avalon is unexpectedly interrupted, leaving them stranded on their massive (and massively malfunctioning) vessel. The first trailer for the movie, which you can watch above, starts out cheerily enough, with Lawrence and Pratt making the most of their unexpected time together, as they play with robots, and hit up a bar overseen by a robotic Michael Sheen (Is his character named Mo-Sheen? Let's hope he's named Mo-Sheen). But soon, the Avalon starts getting glitchy, sending our hero and heroine through a dizzying gauntlet of gravity-defying leaps, stressful space-walks, and one VERY .GIF-fable smooch.