Reviews of the film "Passengers" (2016): the plot, the actors

"Passengers" - a film in 2016, admitted by the film company Columbia Pictures. The main roles in the film were performed by Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. The plot, the atmosphere of the picture combines several movie genres - melodrama, thriller, drama, science fiction. What is the story of the film? And who was its creators?

The creators of the picture

Has removed a fantastic picture "Passengers" director Morten Tildum. Being a Norwegian by origin, he began his career in his native country with the short film "Friend". Then followed the feature film "Fallen Angels", which received several nominations for the prestigious Norwegian award "Amanda".

Career Tilduma in Hollywood started with the filming of the historical drama "Playing in imitation" with Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley in the lead roles. The painting took the grand prize of the International Film Festival in Toronto, and Morten strengthened his position at the Greuse Factory.

Initially, the director's chair on the filming of the project "Passengers" was supposed to take Brian Kirk, who had previously worked on the series "Games of Thrones." But then Columbia Pictures chose Tildum as its candidate.

The production team consisted of 4 people: Steven Hamel, Michael Meher, Ori Marmur and Neil Moritz. Neil Moritz also oversaw commercially successful projects "Fast and the Furious", "Forsage-5" and "Remember All".

The soundtrack to the painting "Passengers" was written by Thomas Newman, who received 20 nominations for Oscar for 20 years for his work on various films.

Shooting a fantastic picture took place in Atlanta, which is located in the US state of Georgia.

"Passengers": the plot of the film

Scenario for the "Passengers" tape was written by John Spates, the master of fantastic screens. In 2011, he worked on the "Phantom" fighter, in 2016, took part in the project of the Marvel film company "Doctor Strange", and in 2017 worked on the story of the adventure action movie "Mummy". From his "pen" there were always quite unusual and fascinating stories. Not missed Spates and this time.

"Passengers" is a fantastic melodrama, the action of which takes place in the distant future. Humanity has advanced so far in space exploration that it could send a whole liner with 5000 people on board to a different star system on the planet. Since the road to the destination takes 120 years, all the passengers of the liner entered into a state of hibernation. Unfortunately, the camera in which the mechanic Jim slept turned out to be faulty, so he woke up ahead of time.

Jim was waiting in front of a disappointing prospect: to live on a liner for 90 years in proud solitude. The only interlocutor in this space "prison" was a robot bartender. For a year the main character is trying to adapt to a new life, but he does not get much. In order not to end despair by committing suicide, Jim Preston does an extremely selfish act - he himself awakens a pleasant passenger named Aurora Lane from sleep, to spend the remaining 89 years with her.

Preston in conversations with his girlfriend is silent about the fact that he was the reason for her awakening. A year later the couple decides to get married. And just at that moment Aurora learns from Arthur's robot that all this time Jim was lying to her. Between the lovers a gap is formed from resentment and misunderstanding. However, they will have to join forces, because soon Jim and Aurora will be forced to fight not only for their lives on the liner, but also for the lives of another 5,000 passengers.

Chris Pratt in the role of Jim

One of the main performers in the movie Morten Tildum is Chris Pratt. "Passengers" for the performer was not the only commercially successful project. The actor has acted in film since the age of 20 and managed to take part in several megapopular scenes, as well as collaborate with a couple of venerable directors.

In 2008, Pratt lit up in the action film of Timur Bekmambetov "Particularly dangerous" with Angelina Jolie and James McEvoy in the lead roles. A year later he played Fletcher Flamson in the rather famous comedy "The War of Brides". His partner in the frame was Anne Hathaway.

In 2014, in the career of Pratt, there was a breakthrough: the film company Marvel offered him the role of Peter Qwill in the blockbuster "Guardians of the Galaxy." This meant not only shooting in a large-scale project, but also participating in many other superhero films from the Marvel film company. After filming in the adventure films "The World of the Jurassic Period" and "The Magnificent Seven" Chris Pratt got a role in the drama "Passengers".

Actors Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence in the frame played a man and a woman who voluntarily agreed to the hibernation to get into the number of the first colonizers of the new planet. However, 30 years after the beginning of the space trip to a new place of residence, Pratt's hero, the mechanic Jim Preston, accidentally wakes up in the middle of a desert liner and realizes that his next 80-90 years will pass here.

A little later, Preston has a charming companion named Aurora, but this does not make the storyline easier. On the space ship technical problems begin to appear, threatening to kill all passengers. In this situation, only the hero of Pratt, who has knowledge in the field of mechanics and technology, can save thousands of lives.

Jennifer Lawrence as Aurora

Forbes Magazine in 2014 published a list of the most highly paid actresses of Hollywood. The first place in this ranking was honorably assigned to Jennifer Lawrence.

"Passengers" - not the most "star" film with the participation of the singer. The projects that glorified Lawrence around the world are mostly the film franchise X-Men and the famed Hunger Games.

In the film series "X-Men" Lawrence got the role of a young mutant Raven Darkholm. According to the plot, the heroine Jen had the ability to instantly transform from an anthropoid girl into a blue creature with pimply skin that possesses incredible flexibility, strength and the ability to replicate the appearance of other people. The role of Raven Lawrence performed already three times, and for certain the actress will be removed and in other films of the franchise.

An important stage in the career of Lawrence is filming in the film franchise "Hunger Games", based on the novel by Susan Collins. It was this project that turned Jennifer into the highest paid actress in Hollywood.

Then the performer took part in the filming of David O. Russell's comedy "My boyfriend is a psycho." Key actors from the cast were nominated for an Oscar, and Jennifer Lawrence was eventually the coveted statuette.

"Passengers" supplemented the already abundant Jen filmography with another interesting fantasy project. She played in the film the role of writer Aurora Lane, who was on the same space ship with Jim Preston and unwittingly became his lover. Closer to the finale it turns out that in all that was happening had its own meaning: perhaps only Aurora and Jim would be able to save 5,000 helpless passengers who were trapped on a defective space ship.

Michael Sheen as Arthur

One of the main actors in the film's cast is Michael Sheen. "Passengers" - a project in which the performer got the role of a robot-barman, designed to serve the guests of a space liner.

The first 20 years of traveling with Arthur, in fact, there were no customers in the bar. But then, due to a malfunction of the hibernation camera, the barman had to compose a company awakened from artificial sleep to Jim Preston.

In the film "Passengers" actors M. Shin and K. Pratt played a strange friendly couple. From the very beginning, the communication between Robot Arthur and the mechanic Jim looked as if they had known each other for a long time. However, the frankness of Jim Preston with the robot played a cruel joke with the protagonist: it was Arthur who told Aurora later that her awakening 90 years before the arrival at the destination was not an accident.

Michael Shin - British actor, for his career created on the screen a lot of unusual and diverse images. In the painting "Deal" and "The Queen" he appeared in front of the public in the guise of Tony Blair's policy, in the romantic film history "Laws of attraction" Shin played a rock musician. But much more interesting than his work in fantasy projects: in the film franchise "Another World" Shin appeared in the image of a colorful werewolf Lucian, and in the movie series "Twilight" played the head of an ancient vampire clan named Aro.

Lawrence Fishbourn as Hans

In the drama "Passengers" Lawrence Fishbourne, the star of the "Matrix", appeared in the image of Gus Mancuso - a member of the crew of a space ship.

Mankuzo was less lucky: he also woke up because of malfunctions in the hibernation capsule, but his awakening did not go so smoothly and strikingly affected his health. As a result, the hero of Fishburn managed to survive only a few days, which Gus Mancuso spent together with Jim Preston, trying to repair the spacecraft. After the death of Gus, the responsibility for the lives of 5,000 passengers fell entirely on Jim's shoulders.

Lawrence Fishburne - one of the most colorful performers of Hollywood. He often gets the role of heroes who sacrifice themselves for the common good. For example, in the "Matrix" of the Wachowski brothers, Fishbourne played Morpheus, the mentor of Neo, who believes in the gift of the disciple and is ready to give his own life for him.

In "Passengers", the hero of Lawrence, in the time allotted to him, does not try to save his own health and prolong his age - Gus Mancuso spends precious hours and minutes trying to repair a space liner and ensure successful delivery of the colonizers to another planet.

Other performers of roles

The role of Admiral Norris in the picture of Morten Tildum was given to Cuban Andy Garcia. "Passengers" - almost the largest project in the filmography of the artist over the past 10 years.

The peak of the actor's popularity came in the 90s. Then in the fashion there were films on gangster themes, and Garcia remarkably approached the role of a mafia. For the shooting in the drama of Francis Ford Coppola "Godfather-3", the Cuban was nominated for an Oscar. Before that, he played a major role in the gangster thriller "Untouchables" by Brian de Palma and in the action movie Ridley Scott "Black Rain."

In 2000, participation in worthy projects of Andy Garcia began to be offered less and less. During this period, you can select only a few successful pictures - the crime comedy series "Eleven Ocean's friends" and the thriller "Afora". The last tape with the actor's participation is the disaster film "Geostream", where Andy's company in the frame was made by Gerard Butler and Jim Sturgess.

In the film "Passengers" also actress Aurora Robinson Perrino, who played the role of Celeste, was lighted. In the US, Perrino is known for the TV series "Blood and Oil," where she appeared in the image of the illegitimate daughter of the oil tycoon. A little earlier, Perrino took part in the filming of the TV project "Lovely Deceivers". But in the full-length movie actress gets only episodic role. In addition to "Passengers", it can be seen in the science fiction film "Equal" with Kristen Stewart and in the musical film "Jem and Holograms."

Premiere and box office

"Passengers" is a film of 2016 produced. It was first shown to the public on December 14, 2016 in the city of Westwood, California. December 17 of the same year was the solemn premiere of the tape in Beijing.

On December 21, Passengers was simultaneously launched into British, Vietnamese, Irish, Canadian, Arabic, American, Croatian and Swedish rentals.

CIS audience saw the picture on December 22. In Russia, more than 3 million people came to the premiere. The last to get acquainted with the ribbon of the inhabitants of Japan - in the country of the rising sun, the premiere took place only on March 24, 2017.

From the very beginning, Morten Tildum's project looked promising. The company Columbia Pictures has allocated for the shooting of post-production 110 million dollars. All investments paid off with interest: only in the American box office "Passengers" collected 100 million dollars. In Russia, the film earned $ 18 million. Worldwide, box office fees amounted to 303 million dollars.

In the cinemas, persons under the age of 16 were not admitted, since the film has a rating of MPAA - PG-13.

Awards and nominations

Reviews of the film "Passengers" by the jury of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts sounded positive: a picture of Morten Tildum included in the list of nominees for the "Oscar" in two categories - "Best Soundtrack" and "Best Work of the Art Director". And in the first and second nominations, "Passengers" lost to "La La Lenda", but in any case made a worthy competition.

Criticism

What do professional critics think about the picture "Passengers"?

The plot of the film is interesting and captures attention from the first minutes of viewing. Almost all reviewers agreed with this. Still, 61% of the world's critical reviews of the drama "Passengers" are written in a negative light.

Reviews of the movie "Passengers" by Russian journalists are more loyal. They noted a lot of positive moments. For example, the unwillingness of writers to speculate on the suffering and love experiences of the main characters. The script is dynamic and full of events and active actions of the main characters. The spectacle of the picture and the work of the artist-director deserve praise.

However, once again, more captious movie connoisseurs agree that there is less sense in Hollywood cinema, and the actors hide behind beautiful production shots, not transferring any tangible emotions to their play. Moreover, behind the whole plot there is not a single coherent author's thought or super-objective.

Audiences reviews of the movie passengers

The mass audience, of course, is not inclined to analyze films too cautiously. It is enough to have spectacular cadres and recognizable faces in the cast. That is why reviews about the film "Passengers" on the part of the audience in 80% of cases - positive.

Fantastic melodrama of Morten Tildum performs its entertainment function, and this is enough to watch it at least once to satisfy curiosity.