8 Huge Concerns About Hyped Upcoming Movies

Passengers is an upcoming romantic sci-fi thriller directed by Mortem Tyldum. It's notable for starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, two actors at height of their popularity. Couple that with the fact there has been a huge amount of strong science fiction released in the last few years (Arrival, The Martian, Ex Machina, Gravity...to name just a few) and many are hoping Passengers will be added to that list.

The problem is that it looks, well...slightly ridiculous. And artificial as hell. The premise is that Lawrence and Pratt's characters are travelling in sleep chambers on a one-hundred and twenty year voyage to a distant colony planet. Unfortunately, two of the hibernation pods malfunction, causing them to wake up ninety years from their destination, dooming them to live out the rest of their lives aboard the ship. Admittedly, the setup is pretty damn interesting, but the tone of the trailer is not.

There just isn't anything compelling about the characters, two incredibly beautiful people who speak in witty one liners and melodramatic statements. Lawrence's question in the trailer - "why did you give up your life on earth?" - should be an interesting one, but hearing it while the two sit in a twenties-themed diner (with a few planets on the walls to make it futuristic) next to an android barman played by Michael Sheen makes it feel a bit ridiculous.

There's just something so faux sci-fi about it, from the design of the spaceship itself (that can't be practical) to the generic futuristic interior. It looks like Passenger's priority is to tell an emotional love story at the cost of justifying its sci-fi setting.