“Passengers” (2016), starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, was a box office success that grossed over $300 million on a budget of about $110 million (via Box Office Mojo). However, it was a divisive film; the critics’ reviews were nothing short of unforgiving, and the film currently has a 30% score on Rotten Tomatoes. User reviews are more positive, with 63% positive reviews from over 50,000, which isn’t bad, but everyone agrees on one thing: the plot needed more suspense, particularly by adding a twist. It could have been a shocking one, but we learn it very early on instead.
In an interview with Vogue, Lawrence said, “I’m disappointed in myself that I didn’t spot it.” She suggested the plot could have been more exciting. “I thought the script was beautiful–it was this tainted, complicated love story.” She also says she’s not ashamed of the film, but wishes she’d given the script more thought. In another interview with The New York Times, Lawrence shared that perhaps she regrets the film more than she lets on. She said Adele — yes, the singer — said she should not star in it because “space movies are the new vampire movies.”
Years after “Passengers,” Jennifer Lawrence felt like her acting hadn’t been the best since that film. She told Vanity Fair in 2021 that because she had appeared in so many movies, everybody was sick of her. “It had just gotten to a point where I couldn’t do anything right. If I walked a red carpet, it was, ‘Why didn’t she run?'” Regardless of her feelings, “Passengers” is still hit or miss. You either love it or love to hate it.
What is Passengers and why is it rated low?
The premise of “Passengers” is actually interesting. The film takes place on a large spaceship, the Avalon, where thousands of Earth refugees are sleeping as part of a 120-year journey to a new planet. They’re in hibernation pods, as is often seen in sci-fi space epics. But an accident wakes up the mechanical engineer Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) to investigate the issue, who is eventually joined by a passenger named Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence). Over the course of a year or more, they fall in love. But it’s not a traditional love story. They discover there’s more going on with the ship, and without spoilers, that story thread forms the basis for most of the excitement in the film.
“Passengers” is not amazing by any means. Reviewers criticize the film’s execution, saying it “plays it too safe” and that “the plot holes it has and the forced plot points it needs to work are so frustrating.” The difference between the low critics’ score and the average user score, however, is what’s happening with “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” a movie that critics are saying is repetitive and too similar to others. The Rotten Tomatoes scores for “Fire and Ash” are split between 67% from critics and 91% from regular users, showing a divide similar to that of “Passengers.” Another excellent but older example is “Constantine” with Keanu Reeves, which has a 46% score from critics but a 72% from users. Because fans enjoy the movie, Reeves has even discussed “Constantine 2” with James Gunn.
“Passengers” may not be a favorite for all fans, but it might be more compelling than the critics say. If you want to build your own opinion about “Passengers,” you can rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV, as it isn’t included with any subscription services. Fortunately, sci-fi fans have also enjoyed amazing sci-fi shows to watch lately, like “Severance,” Vince Gilligan’s “Pluribus,” “Alien: Earth,” and the final season of “Stranger Things.”
