Watch “Passengers” streaming on Netflix

Director: Morten Tyldum

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence (Aurora Lane), Chris Pratt (Jim Preston), Michael Sheen (Arthur), Laurence Fishburne (Gus Mancuso)

OTT Platform: Netflix

Imagine undergoing hibernation for 120 years on your voyage from planet Earth to planet Homestead II. Your hibernation pod malfunctions and you end up waking 90 years early before reaching the destination! What will you do?

“Don’t get homesick get homestead”, that’s what they say.

“Passengers” is a film in which the starship Avlon with 5,000 people and 258 crew members is on its way to planet Homestead II from Earth. Homestead II is the fourth planet in the Bhakti system and has been selected to be colonized by Earthlings.

A mechanic named Jim Preston due to a malfunction in his hibernation pod wakes up 90 years early.

The onset of the movie shows Jim undergoing the hibernation hangover. Jim is put in the course on engineering and technical trade skills. It is during a session on ‘introduction to colonial life’ that Jim realizes that he is the only one awake on the ship. He panics and tries every way out to get back to sleep. An AI Informat tells him that he can send a signal to Earth. He sends one to the staff of Homestead just to comprehend that it will take 19 years to deliver the message and 55 years to get a reply!

The next thing we see is Jim holding a hibernation pod guide and a toolkit. Soon after, he bangs on the door of the crew to wake them up and seek help but he fails miserably.

To his relief, the bartender is a human. But he turns out to be an android named Arthur.

The next few days are spent in overthinking and finding ways to get out of the ship. However, all his efforts go down the vent hole of Avalon (chuckles!). Arthur advises him to enjoy his life. With his mechanic skills, he gets into the premium Vienna suit. There he eats to the fullest, sleeps, dances, and plays basketball. In addition, he is seen doing space diving. Subsequently, his beard grows a-year long.

Nothing fascinates Jim now. Then, he stumbles upon the hibernation pod of a writer and journalist named Aurora Lane. He feels a connection with the still Aurora. Jim is seen listening to Aurora’s profile videos on loop, laughing at her jokes, and falling for her. He gets into an ethical dilemma whether he should wake her up by unshutting her hibernation pod or not. Loneliness brings him into a bad light and he decides to wake her up and the only person who knows this is Arthur.

As soon as Aurora is up, she undergoes anxiety as well as panic attacks. She meets Jim and gets to know that he has been awake for a year now. While she thinks that Jim has stooped to conquer, she tries hard to get back to sleep. But in the same vein as Jim, she fails. Jim tries his level best out of guilt or love to make things better for Aurora. He makes a Chrysler building model for her. The mechanic sends a robot with a chit asking Aurora out on a dinner. They space dive together after the date where they steal a kiss in space suits.

Soon, they are seen whispering sweet nothings into each other’s ears. For a few months, things seem to get into life. But the truth comes out like a kick in the guts for Aurora. The day Jim decides to propose her Arthur spills the beans unintentionally leaving her heartbroken and hysterical. An air of incommunicado lures the screenplay. Jim tries to make it up to her but fails.

After two years, the starship Avlon undergoes lots and lots of whirring and malfunctions. Here enters a third human being on the ship – the deck chief Gus Mancuso.

But Gus cannot get over the hibernation hangover. He inspects the starship analytical data for loopholes. The trio gets to know about faults in the starship. But ill-luck Gus succumbs to the hibernation hangover and dies. He gives his ID to Jim so that the duo can now take the charge of repairing the ship.

Now, Jim and Aurora are all alone on a sinking ship.

Will they be able to repair the ship? Can the two broken hearts come together? Is there any chance of their survival? Will Aurora complete her book? 

Watch “Passengers” streaming on Netflix to get the answers to these questions.

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