Reviewed by Ken Carman

Passengers is the best movie of 2016, and maybe 2017. I’m not kidding. Passengers has everything: romance, betrayal, an impossible situation, SciFi mystique, great storytelling and a few slight twists. Oh, and I absolutely recommend 3D, unlike the other, higher attended, movie that screened at the same time: Rogue. The big screen may not be mandatory: if Passengers shows up on TV I will see it again and again. But you lose quite a bit without it.

Rogue is a good movie too, but offers nothing worth paying the price for 3D. You would think that the stars, the spaceships; something would have stood out, been impressive in a 3D way, come right at you. Nothing.

Not so with Passengers. As the two lonely, stranded, stars spacewalk the stars jump right out at you with incredible beauty, and the curvature of the spaceship gives you a sense you’re there.
That alone would be just interesting, but the script has some mildly unpredictable moments: a great feat considering the subject matter lends itself to predictability. There’s a moment in the movie I do take issue with. Something happens that Jennifer Lawrence likens to “murder.” I won’t spoil the moment by saying what, but it’s more akin to rape, in my opinion: rape beyond just body violation; something damn near impossible to forgive. How they handle that, while leaving the integrity of both characters, could have so easily turned cheesy, even offensive. The transition to the grand finale was perfect, touching.

Kudos, script writers, you navigated that as deftly as the stars worked the problem of a ship that had serious glitches.

This is the highest score I’ve given a movie so far…

4.7

Welcome to Our End of the New movie reviews. One poster: don’t bother. Two posters: eh, OK, but a lot of problems here. Three: Good movie, just at least one problem. Four: very good. Five: if you don’t go you’re missing out. Added comments at the end: “you could wait for it to come on TV,” “best seen on the big screen” and “good for all screens,” unless other comments are added, refer mainly to the nature of the movie such as special effects, incredible sound or scenery that might make it best seen in a movie theater depending on your set up at home.