Passengers trailer reveals a romance and robot hijinks
The movie media was aflutter when the first trailer for Passengers dropped earlier this week, and for good reason. The movie, starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence as lonely space travelers, previews a love story in space between two of today’s most watchable A-listers. Personally, I’m still on the fence between being on board and rolling my eyes at both the talent and the trailer, but Passengers looks like it could find a strong audience come December. It’s an end-of-the-year romantic sci-fi movie starring Pratt and Lawrence, so it’s bound to put more than a few butts in theater seats. From the trailer, looks like we’re in for some robot flirting, an explosion or two, and some kind of twist plot reveal as hinted at by Pratt’s final line in the trailer, “There’s a reason we woke up early.”
Watch the first trailer for Passengers and check out the poster and plot synopsis after the jump.
For those not sold on the romance aspect, there’s robot Michael Sheen tossed in as a Shining-esque sounding board. He should be fun. I can’t put my finger on why I’m feeling so “meh” about this movie. Maybe I would have been more excited a few years ago when these two were still movie candy, but by now I’m just a little jaded. An interesting bit of news I found while looking for more info about Passengers was that it was originally supposed to be a relatively small budget flick starring Keanu Reeves and Reese Witherspoon (spoilers in the article reveal the movie’s twist), and for a while the script was on the Black List as something people were talking about, so this one’s come a long way to finally make it the theaters. The cast is more bankable, the budget most likely exploded, and expectations are probably a lot higher now, so here’s hoping the movie is fantastic and we can all throw praise it’s way at the end of the year. For now, I’m optimistically skeptical.
Here’s the official plot synopsis for Passengers:
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt are two passengers onboard a spaceship transporting them to a new life on another planet. The trip takes a deadly turn when their hibernation pods mysteriously wake them 90 years before they reach their destination. As Jim and Aurora try to unravel the mystery behind the malfunction, they begin to fall for each other, unable to deny their intense attraction… only to be threatened by the imminent collapse of the ship and the discovery of the truth behind why they woke up.
Passengers is directed by Mortyn Tyldum (Headhunters, The Imitation Game) and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Laurence Fishburne, and Michael Sheen. The movie hits theaters on December 21, 2016.
