Sci-fi drama 'Passengers' plots dubious, dreary course

In “Passengers,” Chris Pratt plays a man who, while in suspended animation during a 120-year commercial space mission to a faraway colony planet, is mistakenly awakened mid-trip. Adrift and alone in a massive floating super-mall - tricked out with a basketball court, restaurants and an elegant bar staffed by an obliging droid - Pratt's character faces the existential challenge of living out his days in solitude, dying long before his 5,000 fellow travelers reach their destination.

Meanwhile, viewers face a challenge of their own in accepting a movie that feels alternately dreary and patently derivative, culminating in over-plotted set pieces, a conveniently jammed-in narrative device and a final image that beggars belief, patience and goodwill.

Pratt's character, bland Denver mechanic Jim Preston, wants to resettle on a distant outpost called Homestead II so he can return to making and repairing things. Far more interesting is Arthur (Michael Sheen), the droid bartender with whom Jim strikes up a friendship. Film fans will detect a nod to “The Shining” in the bar sequences, which possess the same echoing sense of dislocation and weirdness.

The most original and intriguing element of “Passengers” turns out to be its most troubling, which is how a passenger named Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence) comes to figure in the story. Going into detail wouldn't be sporting, but it's safe to say that the plot hinges on a morally dubious act that the filmmakers gloss over in a series of creepy justifications and a third-act reversal.

Lawrence exerts her usual magnetism in “Passengers.” Although Jon Spaihts's script doesn't allow for much range, she infuses real warmth and feisty humor into an otherwise sterile, somewhat dreary setup. That makes it all the more disappointing when her gutsy spirit turns to mush late in the proceedings.

Visually, “Passengers” is attractive, if not terribly imaginative. Director Morten Tyldum, best known for “The Imitation Game,” isn't a dynamic stylist as much as a competent executor of what's on the page. He gets “Passengers” to where it needs to go, which is a resolution in keeping with a movie that wants to have its cake and eat it too, no matter how much credibility it strains, or how many ethical quandaries it elides.