There's nothing particularly wrong with the bulk of Passengers - it's just that it's all been done before. The plot is interesting enough and a moody, effective atmosphere is created. And the strong cast turns in mostly serviceable performances - Anne Hathaway proves she's a capable lead and Patrick Wilson does a strong job as well. But there is very little tension and buildup in regards to the mystery that moves the story along, which causes it to drag quite a bit. And the conclusion seems rather goofy and forced, attempting to add a last-minute twist ending to the proceedings that really makes little sense when viewed in context. It's not a bad film at all, just not a very memorable one. C+

D

The final twist isn't effective because there is absolutely no tension or buildup in the film. I feel very sorry for the actors here, the script is really horrendous. Plot holes galore, honestly.

PASSENGERS (2008)

I thought it was a good, mature drama. Anne Hathaway gives another solid performance. I really liked the ending and found it quite sad. It's not entirely original but I thought it worked well here.

I'd give it a solid 7/10 ( B ).


It will likely split people, especially since they'll be expecting something else from the previews. I watched it with my niece and my parents, and my niece and I really liked it and my parents thought it was goofy.

I can't really talk about the movie without giving away the film's twist so just in case you haven't seen the film, read elsewhere.

It could've been such a good movie and I'm talking twist and all. There are just two problems with it. One, the film tips it's hat just a little too early (let's pretend I didn't look at the poster or the DVD cover). Once Patrick Wilson's character doesn't get run over by a train, that means one of two things for Anne Hathaway's character. That means she's either dead herself, or she can somehow make contact and have sex with dead people. So essentially the movie winds up being a Sixth Sense ripoff. Hathaway's character is a shrink, Willis' character was a shrink. Both at the end of the movie come to grips with their death. Yay!

The second problem I had, and the more glaring problem for me is that the film cheats, in one way that's too obvious while the other I had to go back and look for because I didn't remember it/her being there. Let's the start with the second one. It's the first scene. They zoom in on the passengers we're going to meet throughout the film. We see Patrick Wilson's character sip juice out of a fruit cup while smiling and talking to someone to his left, our right. Then, after another title card they zoom out. Look at the row he's sitting in. Just like in the end he's sitting with a woman who we find out is Anne Hathaway. There's one small problem though. Instead of Anne Hathaway sitting there, there's Anne Hathaway's body with the CGI face of an Asian woman. The filmmakers did this of course so that we wouldn't guess within the first 90 seconds of the film that Anne Hathaway is dead as well, but that's a cheat. It's a cheat even if no one was looking for it since it's the beginning of the film. Who the fuck is looking for Anne Hathaway in the opening scene? And why did they even have to use that wide shot to begin with? Couldn't they have just cut from Wilson laughing to the explosion on the wing? Why did we have to see that wide shot? We see it again anyways at the end of the film (minus the CGI Asian lady).

And yet the film isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination thanks only to Hathaway and Wilson. Their relationship is kind of stupid and unrealistic (especially early on in how Hathaway as a shrink is supposed to treat Wilson) but we don't really care because they have good chemistry.

If the film didn't have to resort to cheating and wasn't a ripoff of The Sixth Sense, it could've been something good thanks to Hathaway and Wilson. They're game. The direction and script sure as hell weren't though.

**

Found this online. Again, it's a spoiler.

Oh this movie will pay, it will pay in blood!

It knew of my weakness for endings with piano driven sadness and brightly lit scenes with pretty eye's in focus and pounced! The ending made me all weepy and emotional despite the rest of it being a terribly bland Sixth Sense knockoff!

Damn you Anne Hathaway.

LOLASIANANNEHATHAWAY

1/10 -> It would be better if I died in a plane crash than watched this movie!

Oh my. I've seen two huge stinkers in a row. Can't remember the last time that happened. I only watched this movie because somebody suggested in Lost thread it has similar ending as that show. But this movie suffers from such a lame script and acting - OMG one of the worst acting I've seen in quite some time. There's not a single redeeming performance here.