Passengers

What it's about:

Two passengers who are on a 120-year journey to another planet when their hibernation pods wake them 90 years too early. Jim and Aurora are forced to unravel the mystery behind the malfunction as the ship teeters on the brink of collapse, with the lives of thousands of passengers in jeopardy.

What we thought:

George Clooney, Sandra Bullock and Matt Damon have all recently been propelled into space. It was only a matter of time before Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence would join them too.

Currently two of the hottest stars that Tinseltown has to offer, they were an obvious choice for director Morten Tyldum’s big budget sci-fi love story. 

With space movies stealing the spotlight at cinemas recently, it comes as no surprise that we’ll be seeing more of our Hollywood favourites being catapulted into darkness.

From Gravity to The Martian and even more recently Arrival the one word titled galactic flicks are bringing in the big bucks. 

So Passengers fits in perfectly with our renewed obsession, only it lacks the sophistication we saw in its more intellectual predecessors.  

While Gravity stunned us with its in-depth knowledge of how spacecrafts work and The Martian amazed us with its MacGyver approach to science, Passengers gives us Chris Pratt’s ass. 

And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a very fine ass indeed but an excellent metaphor to help distinguish between this space popcorn flick and its more mature forerunners. 

The storyline in itself has many complications and problems relating to patriarchy and sexism wrapped up in a Sleeping Beauty-like fairy-tale set in outer space. I can’t dig into this too much without giving away crucial plot points. 

But be assured that Jennifer Lawrence as Aurora Lane is no push-over. She’s a fierce and strong character that really brings a lot of energy into the film at a point when it really needs it. 

Chris Pratt too has matured into a fully-fledged Hollywood lead actor with an incredible presence on the big screen. 

Together the duo exuberate a chemistry that certainly makes this film worth the watch. Once you’ve accepted the fact that this isn’t an intellectual space film that you need to puzzle together, it actually makes for some great viewing pleasure. 

This modern day love story set in outer-space with two ridiculously hot people is the summer blockbuster flick you can watch to escape from your own world. It’s easy to watch and definitely worth a trip to the cinema.