Mr. Movie review: ‘Passengers’ combines solid acting with mind-blowing sci-fi

Passengers casts Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence as passengers on a ship headed to a planet in another solar system. They’re awakened just 30 years into a 120-year cryogenic sleep. With 90 years to go, it’s a death sentence. But that’s not their biggest problem. The ship is malfunctioning, and unless they find out why and fix it, they and the several thousand others asleep on the ship are going to die.

Lawrence — whose best acting efforts have been teaming with Bradley Cooper — has equally excellent chemistry with Pratt. They ping-pong perfectly off each other and with Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon), who provides some comedy relief as an android bartender.

Part drama and part romance, Passengers also has an original sci-fi angle. What do you do and how do you survive the tedium of 90 years confined in large but limited container? Add to that dazzling — and dare I say — out of this world special effects and the formula works.

Director Morton Tyldum (The Imitation Game) and his effects group will blow your mind. The shots of the ship spinning in space, its cavernous interior and the trips the characters take into space are — alone — worth the price of a ticket.

This story was originally published December 22, 2016 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie review: ‘Passengers’ combines solid acting with mind-blowing sci-fi."