Plot: What’s it about?
I’m not sure why it happens when a high-profile actor is in a big movie where all the attention is on him or her and then, another movie comes out that no one’s heard of. The Internet Movie Database has made this a bit easier by listing pretty much anything and everything any actor has ever been in, but I digress. Six months ago, if I were to ask which movie starred Anne Hathaway: “Rachel Getting Married” or “Passengers” most would say “Rachel Getting Married.” Hathaway was up for Best Actress, the movie was great and directed by Jonathan Demme. However “Passengers” did star Anne Hathaway and I’d never heard of it until it arrived last week. As it so happens, this film was made at essentially the same time as “Rachel Getting Married” and both were distributed by the same studio (Sony), so why does one film get all the attention and the other get the silent treatment? I suppose if I knew the answer to that question, I’d be a studio executive. Nevertheless “Passengers” has arrived and perhaps it’ll find some life on Blu-ray.
Hathaway stars as Claire, a counselor attempting to help the few survivors of a flight through their agony. The survivors seem to have conflicting accounts of the plane crash, with some saying they heard an explosion and others feeling an eerie sense of euphoria. Claire believes that its shell shock and that, over time, the patients will come to terms with reality and all will be well. This, however, starts to change when the passengers start disappearing and are absent at the sessions. The appearance of a stranger that Claire believes is responsible only furthers her concerns. This leads us to Eric (Patrick Wilson), someone who won’t participate in the sessions and has a newfound lease on life since the accident. Claire breaks her vow and starts a relationship with Eric which may or may not be a good thing. Lastly we have the mysterious airline employee (David Morse) who Claire believes holds the clues to the disappearances.
“Passengers” is a different kind of movie and without divulging too much, it does have a great premise. I found myself strangely immersed in the plot and though some performances are stronger than others, it’s not really a bad film. The ensemble cast is something that really makes the film work with Hathaway leading the bunch as well as Patrick Wilson, Clea Du Vall, Andre Braugher and Dianne Wiest as Claire’s nosy neighbor. As a big fan of “Lost”, I kind of felt like the movie paralleled that show in tone. Any way you slice it, “Passengers” is somewhat of an engaging film and I found it to be fairly entertaining. I do feel that Hathaway was better in “Rachel Getting Married” but she’s so consistently good that I’ll pretty much watch her in anything. I’d recommend this as a rental for a rainy day – you could do a lot worse.
Video: How does it look?
“Passengers” comes to Blu-ray in a 2.40:1 AVC HD transfer that looks pretty darn good. I’m not entirely sure where the film is set, though there’s a scene in the film in which I could clearly read “British Columbia Sugar Company” on a building in the background (a testament to how clear the image is, no doubt). Most of the scenes are indoors and the exterior shots seem to always take place when it’s either cloudy or raining. Given this, the transfer does have a very de-saturated look and feel to it but by and large the image is crystal clear. There’s a bit of room for improvement, but I didn’t find a lot to complain about.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby TrueHD track isn’t among the most active out there, but I did catch a few scenes that really made my neck crane. There are some flashback scenes to the plane crash and all of them sound very robust, with the LFE taking over. Dialogue is at the heart of the film and vocals are very clear. I wasn’t left with any huge impression after the final credits rolled but it’s a fairly decent effort.
Supplements: What are the extras?
There aren’t many supplements to note, but the cast and crew commentary does shed a little light on the story. I don’t want to spoil the film so I won’t go into too many details, but it’s a good track nonetheless. “In the Night Sky: The Making and Manifest of Passengers” is a very wordy way of saying “Behind the Scenes” as we get some interviews with the ensemble cast. Some deleted scenes are included as is the “Analysis of the Plane Crash” in which we get a production featurette as to how the plane would appear and so forth.
