Passengers (2008)
1.5/4
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Patrick Wilson, Andre Braugher, Clea Duvall, David Morse, Dianne Wiest
Rated PG-13 for Thematic Elements including Some Scary Images, and Sensuality
Not to be confused with the 2016 film starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence
"Passengers" is a movie so dumb that I guessed the ending before I even ordered it from Netflix. I'm dead serious. Basically every movie with this premise has taken this ending. I thought, surely a movie starring Anne Hathaway couldn't possibly be this dumb, but no. It is.
A plane has crashed on the beach leaving few survivors. Claire (Hathaway), a crisis counselor, is called in to speak to those that made it. Most are understandably rattled. One, a handsome man named Eric (Wilson), is different. He's charming, jovial, and when he first meets Claire, he shamelessly flirts with her. Claire is determined to help her patients, but Eric proves to be an especially hard challenge, since she finds herself falling for him. But darker overtones soon overwhelm her new (and entirely inappropriate) romance. Patients start to go missing, mysterious figures start appearing out of nowhere, and a member of the airline is all but stalking Claire.
What on Earth got Anne Hathaway, one of Hollywood's smartest, prettiest and most talented actresses to sign on for this movie. I've heard through the grapevine that she's one of the most down-to-Earth actresses working today, so I don't think she'd mind if I asked her why she lent her talents to such a hopeless screenplay. To be fair, Hathaway is charming and gives it her all, but not even she can emerge unscathed from this disaster. Patrick Wilson can play an affable guy no problem. But Eric comes across as creepy. I didn't believe their romance for a second. No character played by Anne Hathaway would do anything but run away from this guy. Special mention has to go to Dianne Wiest, who is just really annoying.
I got the sense that one of two things happened with this movie. One, Ronnie Christensen had written a brilliant script that deserved the talents of Anne Hathaway and was ruined by studio executives. Two, the script was terrible but marketable and director Rodrigo Garcia tried to salvage it as best he could. I don't know what happened, but the result is a bunch of nonsense that starts out decent enough but gets funnier the more absurd it gets.
As hilariously awful as this movie sometimes is, I will admit that it does a few things right. Amid all the hooey that is the plot, I did wonder where this was all going. And as dumb and cliché as the ending is, at least when everything is revealed, it's nicely staged. Of course, the ending makes everything that came before it even more dishonest and nonsensical, but I'll give credit where credit is due.
Strangely, while watching this movie the most common thought in my mind wasn't how idiotic the whole story was. It was how good it all looks. The color and lighting palette assembled by Igor Jadue-Lillo is truly pleasing to the eye. Hats off to him.
The bottom line is that this movie is a dud. Not even the charms of Anne Hathaway can save this turkey.
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Patrick Wilson, Andre Braugher, Clea Duvall, David Morse, Dianne Wiest
Rated PG-13 for Thematic Elements including Some Scary Images, and Sensuality
Not to be confused with the 2016 film starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence
"Passengers" is a movie so dumb that I guessed the ending before I even ordered it from Netflix. I'm dead serious. Basically every movie with this premise has taken this ending. I thought, surely a movie starring Anne Hathaway couldn't possibly be this dumb, but no. It is.
A plane has crashed on the beach leaving few survivors. Claire (Hathaway), a crisis counselor, is called in to speak to those that made it. Most are understandably rattled. One, a handsome man named Eric (Wilson), is different. He's charming, jovial, and when he first meets Claire, he shamelessly flirts with her. Claire is determined to help her patients, but Eric proves to be an especially hard challenge, since she finds herself falling for him. But darker overtones soon overwhelm her new (and entirely inappropriate) romance. Patients start to go missing, mysterious figures start appearing out of nowhere, and a member of the airline is all but stalking Claire.
What on Earth got Anne Hathaway, one of Hollywood's smartest, prettiest and most talented actresses to sign on for this movie. I've heard through the grapevine that she's one of the most down-to-Earth actresses working today, so I don't think she'd mind if I asked her why she lent her talents to such a hopeless screenplay. To be fair, Hathaway is charming and gives it her all, but not even she can emerge unscathed from this disaster. Patrick Wilson can play an affable guy no problem. But Eric comes across as creepy. I didn't believe their romance for a second. No character played by Anne Hathaway would do anything but run away from this guy. Special mention has to go to Dianne Wiest, who is just really annoying.
I got the sense that one of two things happened with this movie. One, Ronnie Christensen had written a brilliant script that deserved the talents of Anne Hathaway and was ruined by studio executives. Two, the script was terrible but marketable and director Rodrigo Garcia tried to salvage it as best he could. I don't know what happened, but the result is a bunch of nonsense that starts out decent enough but gets funnier the more absurd it gets.
As hilariously awful as this movie sometimes is, I will admit that it does a few things right. Amid all the hooey that is the plot, I did wonder where this was all going. And as dumb and cliché as the ending is, at least when everything is revealed, it's nicely staged. Of course, the ending makes everything that came before it even more dishonest and nonsensical, but I'll give credit where credit is due.
Strangely, while watching this movie the most common thought in my mind wasn't how idiotic the whole story was. It was how good it all looks. The color and lighting palette assembled by Igor Jadue-Lillo is truly pleasing to the eye. Hats off to him.
The bottom line is that this movie is a dud. Not even the charms of Anne Hathaway can save this turkey.
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