A Blu-ray Review: PASSENGERS (Sony/TriStar)

Mike LoManaco

Studio Name: Sony/TriStar
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Disc Information: U.S. Region 1
Video Codec: 1080p High Definition 2.40:1
Tested Audio Track: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Director: Rodrigo Garcia
Starring Cast: Anne Hathaway, Patrick Wilson

SYNOPSIS:

In a stylish mix of psychological thrillers like The Sixth Sense, Flightplan and The Forgotten comes this under-the-radar Anne Hathaway upward career attempt vehicle that almost rides on the heels of her little indie forgettable picture Rachel Getting Married; I can recall seeing an in-room movie service trailer for this while on a business trip in a hotel room in San Francisco, and immediately being taken in by it. I don't recall Passengers ever hitting theaters where I live, but it is possible it was one of those short-run titles in which they're in select theaters in "select" parts of the country as trial runs, and then they're immediately off to your pay per view circuit or Blockbuster/Hollywood bins. At any rate, this was actually a difficult title to get a hold of in the public domain in my neck of the woods, on Blu-ray or DVD, and I actually had to make a call to a contact I have at Columbia/Sony's publicity division in order to secure a "pre-rental" copy (what they call it; apparently, some Blockbuster and Hollywood personnel can view these titles before they get rented) after all my attempts at trying to obtain a copy by myself via rental chains or Red Box DVD locations failed. There had been great personal anticipation of this title in my household, and after the less-than-90 minute Passengers ended, here's what I came out with:

This is one of those "psychological thrillers" (this seems to be a bonafide category all its own as of late) that is somewhat predictable, following the genre's typical plot hints and teases, yet at the same time has you saying "Wow...I didn't see that coming..." just before the end credits roll. In a nutshell, if you've seen the film that started this whole trend of these kinds of plot twists, The Sixth Sense, then you are pretty much prepared. Coming off her aforementioned dud (in my opinion, but I am in the minority) Rachel Getting Married, Anne Hathaway stars as a grief counselor running a group for airplane disaster survivors. A certain group has come across her interest, one which apparently has lived through the events of a plane that had crashed off a beach due to varying degrees of conflicting survivor accounts; some say it was an explosion outside on the wing, some say they didn't see anything until they had crashed. The surviving passengers of this flight are bitter and snap at Hathaway with their questioning of her skills and abilities to help them...but all is not what it seems.

Believe it or not, Passengers, regardless of its "direct to video" status of sorts, boasts a pretty impressive cast -- on board next to Hathaway is a survivor she gets romantically close to (a ridiculous notion and dragging sub plot of the film) played by Lakeview Terrace's Patrick Wilson, plus an airline investigator (David Morse of The Rock), Hathaway's boss (Poseidon's Andre Braugher) and a mysterious "roommate" of Hathaway's, played by Dianne Wiest (The Lost Boys). If you can get beyond the boring, dragging, sleep-inducing sub story regarding Hathaway becoming attracted to Wilson's character (after he basically harasses her into sleeping with him), you'll begin to uncover a creepy pacing and thick tension within this film which has Wilson seeing his dead dog outside his house, Hathaway being confronted by strange visitors outside her counseling group sessions, an apparent attempt at a coverup by the airline responsible for the crash and more.

David Morse turns in a haunting performance as one of the executives from the airline whose plane crashed constantly stalking Hathaway to try and silence her survivor patients, while Wilson performs semi-admirably as the seemingly bipolar survivor that goes in and out of hallucinations and flashbacks to the crash. If you're a fan and "expert" of these kinds of films and plots, you'll probably have no difficulty figuring out what's going on -- but if you just sit out the ride, you may just be surprised at how this one ends.

VIDEO QUALITY:

I went into this one with some skepticism because the last TriStar sub-release from parent Sony Pictures I viewed -- and purchased! -- was the Pacino thriller 88 Minutes and that had to be one of the worst BD transfers I have seen in the entire history of the format. It's even worse than some DVD releases. The quality of this 2.40:1 transfer is all over the map; the beginning half of the film showcases a bleak color and design palate, forcing reduced contrast and a softness that did not look anything like 1080p high definition. There's also a great deal of noise-like artifacting -- not grain per se -- that riddles most of the darker sequences, and some of the outdoor ones. The style of the film is bathed in a cold, steely blue hue that shows up nicely for the most part, but doesn't really benefit from high definition; most of this transfer looked poor, soft and unimpressive.

About halfway through, the quality improves strangely, with detail coming through and a cleaned-up appearance to blacks and fleshtones. Where the detail and image was soft and "plain" in the beginning, the last half of the film looks pretty decent. But nothing that will ever get Passengers into the Blu-ray Hall of Fame for image depth or impressive visuals. This is becoming a disappointing trend in Blu-ray releases as of late.

AUDIO QUALITY:

Decoded by my player and passed on as multichannel PCM, the English Dolby TrueHD mix in 5.1 didn't really wow either; dialogue was on the hushed side, requiring high levels of master volume to compensate, and the majority of the presentation remained in the front three channels. Brief bursts of surround activity and life ripped through the track during big setpieces such as the crash flashback sequences, where the mix would suddenly open up all around the soundstage, but they were rare.

SUMMARY:

A good rental, no doubt. Sharing the exuberant air of titles such as The Sixth Sense, The Forgotten and Flightplan, some of Passengers' story and direction is predictable if you're a fan of this been-there-done-that genre. But its payoff is satisfying even though it's been experienced before.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Any fan or enthusiast of the aforementioned psycho-thrillers will find a soft-spot for this one, and it feels and plays even shorter than the last title I reviewed for you, Taken. As I said, it's definitely worth a rental; I am not so positive it's worth a buy for your collection -- the jury's still out on this one in my own home -- but it's an entertaining hour and a half.

Thank you, as always friends, for reading...and please fire away with any questions or comments! :hithere::busy:

danz1906

Great review, I watched the DVD last nite.The Movie was just OK.

Mike LoManaco

danz1906 wrote: »

Great review, I watched the DVD last nite.The Movie was just OK.

Thank you for reading, Danz!

I thought this would have been better than it was, too.