Passengers 2016

     Aurora Lane and Jim Preston are among the sleeping crew of the spaceship Starship Avalon.  The ship is sponsored by a huge corporation and is on a 120-year voyage to a distant colony planet called the Homestead II.  Earth has become very crowded and this is a profitable way to move a lot of people elsewhere.  There are 5,258 people in hibernation, 5,000 passengers and 258 crew members.  There is a malfunction in one of the hibernation pods and Jim Preston is awakened 90 years from their destination.  There is Arthur the bartender but he is an android and he is the only company Jim has for a year.  He decides he must awaken someone else from their hibernation.  He feels he can't possibly spend 89 years alone!!

     There is a lot of CGI in this film and the only characters are Jim, Aurora, Arthur and Gus Mancuso, a Chief Deck Officer awakened because his pod also malfunctioned.  The pods are supposed to be 100% foolproof so how did Jim and Gus awaken?  What is wrong with the ship that caused this malfunction?  I thought it was interesting that many options on the ship for food, clothing and quality of the room are based on the class of the guest!!  Like airline seating based on how much you are willing to pay??  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

116 min, Adventure directed by Morten Tyldum with Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, Andy Garcia, Vince Foster, Kara Flowers, Conor Brophy, Julee Cerda, Aurora Perrineau, Lauren Farmer, Emerald Mayne, Kristin Brock, Tom Ferrari, Quansae Rutledge.

Note:  Imdb 7.0 out of 10, 31% critic 63% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 1 ½*, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 1800 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Fayetteville and Atlanta, Georgia.  Some scenes were filmed at Pinewood Atlanta Studios, Fayetteville, Georgia.  The scenes at the ship’s bar have similarities to The Shining directed by Stanley Krubrick, 1980.  There is a poster with symbols under the title and they represent Morse code for S.O.S.  Jennifer Lawrence’s character is named after Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Aurora of 1959.  Chris Pratt was paid $12 million and Jennifer Lawrence was paid $20 million plus 30% of the profits.  Starship Avalon shares this name with the mythical location where King Arthur recovers from his wounds.  There is another film with the title Passengers from 2008 with Anne Hathaway and Patrick Wilson.  Hathaway is a therapist assigned to counsel surviving passengers after a plane crash