Despite extensive efforts to promote Morten Tyldum’s Passengers, the film was not well-received in terms of audience satisfaction. With such a compelling and unique storyline, it’s a shame that the film wasted much of its potential to become a success on clichés, in addition to a disappointing ending.

Passengers follows the lives of Jim (Chris Pratt) and Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence), two passengers on the starship Avalon, where everyone aboard is in the midst of a 120-year-long journey from Earth to Homestead II, a distant planet in space. However, when Jim is awakened 90 years too early due to a malfunction, with no apparent way to fall back into hibernation, he must come to terms with the fact that he will spend the rest of his life on the ship.

What started off as an engaging film quickly deteriorated into a predictable and frustrating one. Arthur, a comical android robot played by Michael Sheen, provided a bit of humor, but it was not enough to mask the disturbing nature of Passengers’s unsettling premise. The film explores loneliness, depression, suicide, and death, in spite of being advertised as a romantic science-fiction flick. 

One of the bigger problems with this film is the fact that Jim’s actions were played off lightly and almost even justified. When he stumbles upon Aurora’s hibernation pod and begins to contemplate whether or not he should wake her up, it was already obvious that he would choose to do so. The trailer also shows Aurora on the ship, so that wasn’t a surprise. However, knowing that she would most likely suffer the same way that he does, Jim goes against his morals and brings her out of her hibernation, aware that she, like him, will have to die on the ship.

On a positive note, the cinematography, editing, lighting, and music choices were quite impressive. With a $110 million budget, it made sense that the film would not only be aesthetically pleasing, but that it would also effectively make use of technology. In one scene, where Jim is in an observation room, the view outside of the window is breathtaking and incredibly lifelike. The lighting of the film is mainly composed of relaxing colors, including whites and pleasant hues, which coordinates with the film’s mood.

The main reason I went to see this film was because it was offered as an extra credit opportunity for my AP Physics I’s class, but I would have watched it regardless. Although Passengers definitely isn’t amazing, I have to admit that it was entertaining and suspenseful, two characteristics that an action film should be composed of. Pratt and Lawrence give it their all, playing their characters spectacularly, but this lackluster film cannot be redeemed. Putting all negative reviews aside, it’s safe to say Passengers is still one of the better films of 2016.