Why Have the 'Passengers' Trailers Been So Underwhelming?
Just before Thanksgiving, the second trailer was released for the new big-budget sci-fi romance Passengers, and I'm feeling oddly cold.
This movie should have me foaming at the mouth with anticipation. On paper, I love everything about it. I think the idea of two people waking up from cryo-sleep during a long space trip is extremely compelling. Playing out the complicated dynamics that develop between them as the loneliness of their situation truly sinks in should be really interesting to watch. I'm a huge fan of both Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. Lawrence has recently been hit with some backlash, but I really think she is a special performer when given the right material (see Winter's Bone). As for Pratt, he has the sort of swaggering nonchalance we haven't seen since Harrison Ford's glory days (although that particular sleeping giant was awoken briefly for The Force Awakens). Put them together with Oscar-nominated director Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), and they should be knocking it out of the park. When the first trailer hit (find it here), something felt off. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, because the project had so many of the right ingredients. Not until this new trailer did I really begin to dig a little deeper into my ambivalence.
One major problem is the film's art design. From the space suits to the giant empty ship in which Lawrence and Pratt are stranded, everything looks like it was made by Disney Imagineers. The sets and the costumes have a fake Hollywood sheen that glosses over functionality and makes every nook and cranny so unbearably sleek that I find it hard to buy into the film's reality. I get the need to make things look cool for a film. I don't just want super-realistic and clunky NASA suits in every sci-fi movie I see. However, there should be some lip-service paid to functionality if we are to believe this is in any way connected to our world. For great examples that play it both ways, take a look at the suits in 2001: A Space Odyssey or more recently The Martian. The spacesuits in each of those films ooze cool design, but they also feel like they could really exist.
The sets, or to be more specific the painfully obvious lack of sets, certainly do not help either. Trailers are notoriously difficult barometers for effects, so I hestitate to pass judgement based on effects that could possibly be early renders that would ultimately look much better. With that said, though, the green screen backgrounds here are atrocious. Like local weather report bad. And the hero shots of the double-helix space ship look like rejected effects shots from the Kevin Sorbo sci-fi cheesefest Andromeda. Again, that could all be temporary, but at this stage in the game, I shouldn't cringe at nearly every effects shot. Especially not when you have a reported $150 million budget.
That brings us to the acting. As I said before, I am a huge fan of both Lawrence and Pratt, so the fact that they seem so wooden in these trailers is incredibly disappointing. As a purported romance, their sexual chemistry should be palpable. Here, though, the dialogue feels like its being read off cue cards. They interact with about as much heat as Leonardo DiCaprio at the end of Titanic.
There is another peculiar reason this might be landing with a bit of a thud for me, and it has to do with a spoiler. I won't ruin the surprise for anyone here, but it's easy enough to find with a simple Google search. Jon Spaihts' script for this movie has been around a long time. Back in 2007, it made the notorious Black List, a collection of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, and at one time was going to be made with Keanu Reeves attached to star. The downside to something being around that long is that things leak. Early in this version's production, a log-line was floating around the internet that seemed harmless at the time, but which gave away a plot point that the marketing apparently wants to keep a secret. So, for me, the mystery of the film is damaged. That isn't really the filmmakers' fault, but it makes me think the studio doesn't have a ton of confidence in the film's other plot turns, which could sink the film.
I realize this is a ton of speculation about what amounts to maybe six or seven minutes of total footage, and that might feel a little silly. However, trailers are all we can really use to decide on what to spend our hard-earned cash. Unfortunately, when this one rolls into theaters, I may just have to check what's on Netflix instead.
Check out Passengers trailer #2 below and judge for yourself.
Passengers will hit theaters on December 21, 2016.
