Passengers

Recently someone who was studying scriptwriting was giving a talk in my class and thy told us how writing for a movie was different than writing in books, because in film you can't show character's inner thoughts and struggles. It all has to be dialogue and can't all be very deeply psychological.

Now I'd like to shove this film into their faces and ask how the hell is it possible then? It is a brilliant masterpiece. Touching, deep, well-written, well-acted, well paced. I am honestly having trouble pointing out any grand faults with it. There were things that bothered me, but overall the piece is stunning.

So Jim wakes up on a space ship. All seems well until it becomes clear that he is the only one away and there are almost a hundred years still left to travel...

A big chunk of the story is told with only one human character. A difficult task indeed, made somewhat easier by the appearance of a human-like robot. The said robot, Arthur, is actually possibly my favorite character despite being a plot device for a large part. He doesn't really feel like an easy cop out either, because as a robot - well, he only seems like a slightly improved Siri. He is fun to be around, friendly and likeable, just like Siri is in my opinion. But no matter how long you talk to Siri you never really forget that in the end you are just talking to your phone. Arthur is adorable, but does never really feel too human and I love that. The acting here is also one worthy of an Academy Award.

So we are still left with only one main character for a while and his inner struggles and thoughts and feelings are so brilliantly portrayed - without any narration!

Now to the stuff that did bother me. There are 3 human characters in this film and one of them is a plot device. Honestly I can't even remember his name anymore, because all he was was a plot device. Not a badly written one, but you can tell that he was only ever needed to advance the story in ways in which just having Aurora and Jim there couldn't have happened.

Another question that rises is - why don't they return to Earth? Some answer is given to this, but it sounds like a very unbelievable one. They say it would get as long to get back as it does to go forward and add something about the time it takes to turn the ship around, but that does not seem logical. It is a small thing, but one that has stuck with me.

All in all the film is truly brilliant. The characters and their struggles feel realistic, the acting is fantastic, the story is really fantastically told. It is hard to tell a story with just two people and for the most part this film manages it.