Jurassic World’sleading man and MCU starChris Pratthas had no shortage of successful roles, from his charismatic stint as Star Lord inGuardians of the Galaxyto his memorable voice acting inThe Lego Movieand, most recently,The Super Mario Bros. Movie. But Hollywood’s highly sought-after star also has a more controversial project under his belt —the 2016 sci-fi filmPassengers, in which he acted alongside the Oscar-winningHunger GamesheroJennifer Lawrenceto deliver a performance that many audiences struggled to enjoy.
Although both Lawrence and Pratt are known forincredibly successful and even critically acclaimed films,Passengersunfortunately does not make that list for either of them. Directed by Morten Tyldum — who has also delivered award-winning stories to the big screen, such asThe Imitation Game—the sci-fi romance earned a dismal 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside plenty of less-than-enthusiastic reviews from critics and movie lovers alike. However,Passengersis currently streaming for free on Amazon’s ad-supported serviceFreevee, meaning that audiences today have an opportunity to make their own decision on whether the film deserves so much hate.
Passengerstells the story of The Avalon, a spaceship from Earth undertaking a 120-year odyssey to a different planet. to survive the trip, the passengers and crew have been placed in a sleep-like stasis, ensuring that they’ll only awaken once the Avalon reaches its destination.However, when an asteroid hits the ship and damages it, Pratt’s character, Jim, wakes up — with 90 years to go before the journey is over. After some time alone, Jim decides to revive another passenger on the ship: Aurora, played by Lawrence. Jim deliberately hides the truth of the situation, letting Aurora believe that the asteroid incident was what woke both of them up. He maintains the lie even as the pair begin to fall for each other, a seemingly natural result of being the only two humans awake on the ship.
The Controversy ofPassengers, Explained
Upon its debut,many viewers disliked the way thatPassengerspurported to be a sci-fi romance, as many aspects of the plot seem far more horrific than romantic. Jim’s decision to revive Aurora is already deeply selfish —since doing so also condemns her to die before the Avalon reaches its destination— but he also chooses to lie and manipulate Aurora throughout the majority of the film, essentially engineering a romance under false pretenses. Although (spoiler alert) Aurora does eventually uncover the truth, other problems on the ship force the duo to work together, which causes Aurora to fall for Jim once again.
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As many critics astutely noted,the entire relationship between Aurora and Jim is rife with gaslighting and manipulation galore, not to mention the fact that Aurora literally can’t get away from Jim, given that the two are trapped alone on a spaceship together. It’s an amalgamation of all the worst Hollywood romance tropes,sprinkled with the rhetoric of rape cultureand packaged into the pretense of a romance that few audiences found to be appealing. Even Pratt and Lawrencehave since expressed their distaste forPassengers, adding the metaphorical icing to Hollywood’s most unappealing cake.
Passengers
