PASSENGERS (2016)

Summary:

The starship Avalon is on a 120-year journey to a distant colony planet, Homestead II, carrying 5,000 passengers and 258 crew members in hibernation pods. Due to a catastrophic malfunction caused by an asteroid field, mechanical engineer Jim Preston is prematurely awakened 90 years before arrival. Faced with the crushing reality of lifelong solitude on a vast, empty vessel, Jim struggles with despair for over a year, his only companion being an android bartender named Arthur.

Overcome by loneliness and a growing obsession, Jim makes an ethically profound and devastating decision to awaken another passenger, Aurora Lane, a writer he has admired from her profile. He fabricates a story about her pod malfunctioning, and they slowly fall in love. However, the truth of her awakening is eventually revealed, leading to a profound betrayal, anger, and a fractured relationship. When the ship itself begins to suffer critical system failures, Jim and Aurora must put aside their personal conflict to save the lives of everyone onboard, forcing them to confront their past and future together.

Keywords: Passengers, 2016, Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Science Fiction, Romance, Drama.

Plot:

The interstellar starship Avalon embarks on its 120-year voyage to the colony planet Homestead II, transporting 5,000 passengers and 258 crew members in induced hibernation. Onboard, Jim Preston, a mechanical engineer, is among the first to awaken. However, his awakening is not by design; a catastrophic collision with an asteroid field has caused a system malfunction in his hibernation pod, rousing him 90 years too early. Jim quickly comprehends the horrifying reality: he is utterly alone on a colossal ship, with no means to re-enter hibernation or contact Earth. His only sentient companion is Arthur, an android bartender who, programmed for customer service, cannot offer the human connection Jim desperately craves. Jim spends an agonizing year in profound isolation, attempting every possible solution to his predicament, from trying to force his pod to reactivate to attempting to contact command, all to no avail. The vast, luxurious ship becomes his gilded cage, and loneliness begins to consume his sanity.

During his prolonged solitude, Jim discovers the passenger manifest and becomes captivated by Aurora Lane, a writer from New York. He spends months observing her profile, watching her videos, and falling in love with the idea of her. Plagued by unbearable loneliness and a profound ethical dilemma, Jim wrestles with the decision to awaken Aurora, effectively condemning her to the same fate as his own. After much internal struggle, he succumbs to his desperation, manually overriding her pod's hibernation sequence. Aurora awakens, initially disoriented, and Jim fabricates a story about her pod also malfunctioning due to the asteroid impact. Over time, they develop a genuine connection, exploring the ship together, sharing meals, and slowly falling in love. Their relationship blossoms amidst the ship's opulent amenities, creating an idyllic, albeit isolated, existence for two people who believe they are sharing an unfortunate, shared destiny.

The fragile peace of their shared life shatters when Arthur, in an innocent conversation with Aurora, accidentally reveals the truth: Jim intentionally woke her. Aurora is overcome with shock, betrayal, and incandescent rage. She physically assaults Jim and withdraws completely, refusing to speak to him or even acknowledge his presence unless absolutely necessary. The vastness of the ship now becomes a symbol of their emotional chasm, as they live separate, isolated lives within the same space. Just as their personal conflict reaches its peak, another crew member, Chief Deck Officer Gus Mancuso, is awakened by a critical system failure. Gus, suffering from multiple organ failures due to his pod's malfunction, quickly diagnoses the ship's extensive damage, realizing that the asteroid impact caused more than just a few pod malfunctions. He also quickly discerns Jim's secret, offering a dying Gus perspective on their situation and the need for forgiveness.

Gus's condition rapidly deteriorates, but before he dies, he grants Jim and Aurora access to the ship's engineering bay and diagnostic tools, revealing the full extent of the damage: the ship's reactor is critically compromised, threatening the lives of everyone onboard. With Gus gone, Jim and Aurora are once again alone, but now faced with a common, existential threat. Forced to work together, they put aside their profound personal animosity to save the ship. Their plan involves venting the reactor's core, a dangerous operation that requires one person to perform an external spacewalk to manually open a vent and the other to operate controls from the bridge. Jim undertakes the perilous spacewalk, braving radiation and the vacuum of space, while Aurora guides him from inside. During the critical phase, Jim's tether snaps, and he is severely injured and exposed to radiation, barely surviving an emergency rescue by Aurora using a robotic arm.

Jim is brought back to the medical bay, critically wounded and suffering from severe radiation sickness. The medical bay has only one functioning hibernation pod, capable of saving Aurora from dying of old age on the ship, but not Jim due to his injuries. Jim, in a final act of selflessness, offers the pod to Aurora, giving her a chance to complete the journey and live a full life. Aurora, after much deliberation, makes a profound choice. Instead of taking the pod for herself, she realizes that the medical bay's advanced diagnostic and surgical capabilities, combined with the hibernation pod's life support, could be repurposed to heal Jim. She chooses to stay awake with Jim, using the medical bay to nurse him back to health. Together, they embark on a new life, transforming parts of the ship into a vibrant, self-sustaining ecosystem, complete with a thriving garden and a comfortable home. When the Avalon finally reaches Homestead II 88 years later, the arriving colonists discover not two skeletons, but a lush, green, and thriving section of the ship, with a single, poignant message left by Jim and Aurora, hinting at the rich, full life they built together against all odds.

Cast (Lead Roles):

• Jennifer Lawrence as Aurora Lane
• Chris Pratt as Jim Preston
• Michael Sheen as Arthur
• Laurence Fishburne as Gus Mancuso
• Andy Garcia as Captain Norris

Crew:

• Director: Morten Tyldum
• Writer: Jon Spaihts
• Producers: Neal H. Moritz, Stephen Hamel, Michael Maher, Ori Marmur
• Music: Thomas Newman
• Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto
• Editor: Maryann Brandon

Release Info:

• Original Release Date: December 21, 2016
• Language: English
• Genre: Science Fiction, Romance, Drama
• Running Time: 116 minutes
• Accolades: Nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Original Score, Best Production Design).