Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Passengers Blu-ray Movie Review

My first real love-hate affair of the year...

Ever wish you could revisit Lost's mesmerizing opening sequence, exchange its then-fledgling time-traveling intrigue for meandering melodrama, and cram its other-worldly qualities within the confines of a standard genre mystery? Well then... your search is over. Not nearly as awful as its detractors say, not nearly as captivating as its filmmakers intended, Passengers is anything but the groundbreaking supernatural thriller its trailer suggests. It not only hedges its bets on an admittedly strong ending, it struggles to find its identity and revels in ambiguity; oftentimes to the detriment of its story. Still, anyone who makes it through to the end credits may find themselves re-evaluating the film and overlooking its inadequacies.

Wilson channels his best Matthew Fox impression in an opening scene ripped directly from 'Lost'...

When an inexperienced psychotherapist named Claire Summers (Anne Hathaway) is assigned to treat the only five survivors of a tragic airplane crash -- Shannon (Clea DuVall), a guarded cynic; Dean (Ryan Robbins), an agitated victim of circumstance; Norman (Don Thompson), a paranoid pessimist; Janice (Chelah Horsdal), a quiet recluse; and Eric (Patrick Wilson), an enigmatic optimist experiencing euphoric feelings of renewed purpose -- she begins to suspect the airline's reports of the events leading up to the crash are peppered with lies. While her supervisor (Andre Andre Braugher) and eccentric neighbor (Dianne Wiest) advise her to focus only on what she can control, the disappearance of several patients and the arrival of a menacing executive (David Morse) send her searching for answers. Through it all, she grows close to Eric, crosses ethical lines, and is forced to make a choice: continue her pursuit of the truth or risk being crushed by a mystery beyond her understanding.

Slapping together key elements and intentional red herrings from sources as diverse as Lost,
Final Destination, The Sixth Sense, Fearless, Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and Stephen King's The Langoliers (among many others), director Rodrigo García and screenwriter Ronnie Christensen's Passengers is a frustrating, at-times annoying genre flick that only redeems its rampant shortcomings with a series of wonderfully-conceived closing scenes. Unfortunately, it's impossible to complain about the film's weak script and initially-nonsensical plot points -- or even praise its redeeming denouement -- without giving away every twist and turn awaiting viewers patient enough to endure its inane plot developments and seemingly-asinine characters. I can't even conceive of a way to explain why I despised Passengers as much as I did for the majority of its runtime without inadvertently divulging the secrets that calmed me down late in its third act.

What I can say is that Hathaway, Wilson, and the supporting cast members deliver better performances than Passengers deserves. They toil with overwrought, underdeveloped characters that are chained to the film's final revelations rather than a prevailing sense of self-actualized logic; something any actor worth their salt will tell you is no easy task. As Garcia clumsily drags them through the all-too-familiar conventions of supernatural mysteries, romantic dramas, slowburn horror, and a conspiracy-theory thrillers (of all things), they elevate their every scene and help the story maintain what little composure the story musters in the face of its maddeningly-confounding scenarios. As a result, Christensen's inevitable twist is a welcome reprieve that justifies most of what has come before it. Bizarre interactions are grounded, motivations are given clarity, and the particulars of the plane crash are finally brought to light. While I already had a handle on the nature of the characters' circumstances, I didn't expect the exact details to quell many of the criticisms I was eager to level against the film.

My apologies for being so vague, but I'm desperate to avoid spoiling Passengers' ending. Suffice to say, if you're hesitant to jump through an endless series of cinematic hoops in the hopes of enjoying its conclusion as much as I did, stay far away from this one. However, if you can set aside that nagging desire to analyze everything about the film before its credits roll -- and if you're willing to invest time in a second viewing -- it's worth a try.

Passengers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Passengers boasts a breathtaking 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that -- aside from the appearance of some obvious edge enhancement -- should make your stay with Claire and Eric more bearable. The film's palette (while generally subdued) is both healthy and inviting, blacks are rich and fully resolved, and contrast is impeccable. Skintones are quite lovely as well, overcoming every challenge presented by Garcia's absorbing shadows and eclectic lighting schemes. More importantly, detail is outstanding: foreground objects have been rendered with the utmost care, the finest textures have been preserved, and overall clarity is remarkable. A moderate veneer of grain settles in overtop the image, but it never hinders or disrupts the exceedingly polished presentation. More to the point, I didn't catch sight of any significant artifacting, source noise, crush, or banding. From a technical perspective, Passengers left me with the sort of warm-n-fuzzies I long to feel when evaluating a Blu-ray transfer. Once again, the fine folks in Sony's Blu-ray division prove that low-key, low profile films are just as important to them as money-making summer blockbusters.

Passengers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sony has also granted Passengers a precise and immersive Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track. Even though hushed conversations and atmospheric piano music dominate the film's soundscape, dialogue is natural and weighty, the rear speakers craft an engrossing soundfield around the listener, and appropriately attentive LFE support makes its presence known anytime the camera boards our survivors' doomed plane. Hearing wind and flame whip past each passenger is as unsettling as it is convincing, as well as a testament to the track's flawless pans and accurate directional effects. A handful of scenes suffer from minor normalization inconsistencies -- an early car-window exchange between Hathaway and Wilson is initially pinched, an encounter between Hathaway and Morose on a porch left me straining to hear what was being said, and the mid-street pleas of a distraught survivor wavers a bit -- but powerful flashbacks and moody interiors keep everything hurtling along in style. Passengers may be a quiet film, but its lossless audio track's aggressiveness and proficiency just might surprise you.

Passengers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Passengers arrives on Blu-ray with all of the extras that appear on the standard DVD, and even presents its featurettes in high definition. While it isn't as sprawling or extensive as other supplemental packages from Sony, its size is fitting for a production of this scale and should satisfy anyone who enjoyed the film.

• Audio Commentary: Relaxed and revealing, director Rodrigo Garcia and actor Patrick Wilson's deliver a solid discussion that explores Christensen's original script, the on-set atmosphere, the interplay between Wilson and Hathaway, and Garcia's vision. Listening to both men shed potential pretension with humility, humor, and intelligence is a real treat, and their attention to character and plot rarely grows old. A few bouts of silence slow things down, but the pair tend to notice when they've stopped talking and resume almost immediately.
• In the Night Sky (HD, 23 minutes): This decent (albeit back-patting) behind-the-scenes EPK digs into the production, the contributions of its cast, and its filmmakers' vision and methods. The featurette itself relies on film clips far too often, but the interview segments are interesting enough to make up for it.
• Analysis of the Plane Crash (HD, 16 minutes): A dissection of the special and practical effects that created the film's plane crash. Once again, talking heads and film clips abound, but it was nice to see that the director and designers were more concerned with how the characters reacted to the crisis rather than the particulars of the crumbling plane.
• Deleted Scenes (SD, 9 minutes): Unfortunately, a trio of cuts produces only one compelling scene -- a subtle and intriguing dream sequence.
• BD-Live Functionality

Passengers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Passengers is a tricky film to review: I hated it for at least seventy of if its plodding ninety-three minutes, the story itself hinges entirely on a multi-layered third-act twist, and the overall experience only begins to rise above its seemingly-pedestrian screenplay after a second viewing. Still, once all its pieces fell into place, I actually found myself warming to its bleak charms. Thankfully, the Blu-ray edition is impressive from the get-go with a stunning video transfer and an excellent TrueHD audio track. Add to that a small but informative supplemental package and you have a disc worth checking out.