Kinda surprised there is not already a thread for this one. I DID do a search but came up empty. So, apologies if the search engine failed me
"Ghosts?!"
Anyway, watched this last night.
I will break my reactions down into two separate categories
1) The Good
Anne Hathaway. She is pretty much my favorite actress working right now. I've enjoyed her in the past, but her astounding performance in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED left me in a state of slack jawed awe . It was raw, it was real. It was emotionally honest and believable. It was probably the single most human and realistic performance I've seen from a female actor this decade. She kind of leap frogged to the top of the pack with that one, and I became a fan for life. She deserved the Oscar for her searing portrayal of addiction and family strife, and she lost out for no other reason than her participation in the repugnant BRIDE WARS
Anyway, she's pure class, and takes acting very seriously. So I was intrigued at the prospect of her in a 'supernatural thriller'. Would she raise the bar for everyone involved, or treat it as a paycheck and phone it in?
As I prepared to put the DVD in my HD-DVD player, I knew I was about to find out
Patrick Wilson was also pretty great. He handled the material well and was very charming. Hathaway and him made a great on screen couple, and I would not be surprised if perhaps they began dating in real life at some point in the future. The acting was that good.
The rest of the cast was strong (Andre Brauer, Cigarette Smoking Man, David Morse) ... but the film had epic problems that I'm about to get to in just a moment
Plane crashes really do not scare me (I get giddy with excitement whenever I get to go on a flight, some people freak out, but not me. I love it), but the cast worked hard to make sure I was engaged all the same
2) The Bad
The twist.
This is spoiler territory, so please skip the rest of this post if you don't want to be spoiled.
The twist in PASSENGERS is one of the most ridiculous twists I've seen in years. Probably not since FLIGHT PLAN has there been a movie this improbable (oddly enough, that was another plane mishap mystery movie).
Are you ready for it?
EVERYONE IN THE MOVIE IS A GHOST.
EVERYONE
From the people Hathaway walks past on the street, to the guy she buys a sandwich from in one scene, to her boss, and her neighbor, and even the dog that stalks her and Wilson.
It's absurd, and really only a few steps above the level of "And it was all a dream"
You see, Hathaway was not grief counseling the passengers who survived a plane crash.... she died on the crash and was grief counseling their ghosts! Or something..
Hathaway handles the twist like a master thespian, but I could not help but laugh. Her reaction to finding out she is a ghost (and has been the whole time) is perfectly believable and realistic given the situation (she loses her shit), but the idea that everyone in the movie had been a ghost was just so silly that I couldn't help but laugh as she freaked out.
The elaborate logic pretzels that the script must twist itself into in order to make the preceding hour and a half make any sense are truly epic.
Example? Hathaway has a creepy neighbor who keeps going through her stuff and asking personal questions. Who is it? Is this person spying on here? Hathaway is suspicious!
So when we learn that Hathaway was a ghost all along, it naturally begs the question: Why was the neighbor ghost spying on her and stuff? What was that all about?
Patrick Wilson states that when people come back as ghosts, other ghosts help them out. He mentions his dog and asks who came back for Hathaway.
Hathaway thinks for a moment, we cut to a shot of Creepy Neighbor*, and then she gives a knowing smile and says "OOOOOooooh, it was my Aunt Penny!"
W.T.F.
Hathaway had a look on her face that made clear she knew how silly that was, as if she could barely choke out the dialog without cracking up, but she bravely forged ahead with this zany explanation anyway
I was in stitches by the end of the movie, but a little pissed. Hathaway did a great job, but I felt let down by how preposterous the film got in it's final moments
Did anyone else see this one?
PS
Dianne Wiest plays the Creepy Neighbor/Hathaway's Aunt Penny. There are several scenes where she's grilling Anne on her inappropriate relationship with one of her patients. As an In Treatment (HBO) fan, I couldn't help but think that Gina from that show had suddenly had a psychotic break and was now a crazy person LOL
PPS : Hathaway did not seem old enough to hold two master's degrees and a PHD. Her character's improbable level of education was one of the least far fetched plot points though, I must admit
"Ghosts?!"
Anyway, watched this last night.
I will break my reactions down into two separate categories
1) The Good
Anne Hathaway. She is pretty much my favorite actress working right now. I've enjoyed her in the past, but her astounding performance in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED left me in a state of slack jawed awe . It was raw, it was real. It was emotionally honest and believable. It was probably the single most human and realistic performance I've seen from a female actor this decade. She kind of leap frogged to the top of the pack with that one, and I became a fan for life. She deserved the Oscar for her searing portrayal of addiction and family strife, and she lost out for no other reason than her participation in the repugnant BRIDE WARS
Anyway, she's pure class, and takes acting very seriously. So I was intrigued at the prospect of her in a 'supernatural thriller'. Would she raise the bar for everyone involved, or treat it as a paycheck and phone it in?
As I prepared to put the DVD in my HD-DVD player, I knew I was about to find out
Patrick Wilson was also pretty great. He handled the material well and was very charming. Hathaway and him made a great on screen couple, and I would not be surprised if perhaps they began dating in real life at some point in the future. The acting was that good.
The rest of the cast was strong (Andre Brauer, Cigarette Smoking Man, David Morse) ... but the film had epic problems that I'm about to get to in just a moment
Plane crashes really do not scare me (I get giddy with excitement whenever I get to go on a flight, some people freak out, but not me. I love it), but the cast worked hard to make sure I was engaged all the same
2) The Bad
The twist.
This is spoiler territory, so please skip the rest of this post if you don't want to be spoiled.
The twist in PASSENGERS is one of the most ridiculous twists I've seen in years. Probably not since FLIGHT PLAN has there been a movie this improbable (oddly enough, that was another plane mishap mystery movie).
Are you ready for it?
EVERYONE IN THE MOVIE IS A GHOST.
EVERYONE
From the people Hathaway walks past on the street, to the guy she buys a sandwich from in one scene, to her boss, and her neighbor, and even the dog that stalks her and Wilson.
It's absurd, and really only a few steps above the level of "And it was all a dream"
You see, Hathaway was not grief counseling the passengers who survived a plane crash.... she died on the crash and was grief counseling their ghosts! Or something..
Hathaway handles the twist like a master thespian, but I could not help but laugh. Her reaction to finding out she is a ghost (and has been the whole time) is perfectly believable and realistic given the situation (she loses her shit), but the idea that everyone in the movie had been a ghost was just so silly that I couldn't help but laugh as she freaked out.
The elaborate logic pretzels that the script must twist itself into in order to make the preceding hour and a half make any sense are truly epic.
Example? Hathaway has a creepy neighbor who keeps going through her stuff and asking personal questions. Who is it? Is this person spying on here? Hathaway is suspicious!
So when we learn that Hathaway was a ghost all along, it naturally begs the question: Why was the neighbor ghost spying on her and stuff? What was that all about?
Patrick Wilson states that when people come back as ghosts, other ghosts help them out. He mentions his dog and asks who came back for Hathaway.
Hathaway thinks for a moment, we cut to a shot of Creepy Neighbor*, and then she gives a knowing smile and says "OOOOOooooh, it was my Aunt Penny!"
W.T.F.
Hathaway had a look on her face that made clear she knew how silly that was, as if she could barely choke out the dialog without cracking up, but she bravely forged ahead with this zany explanation anyway
I was in stitches by the end of the movie, but a little pissed. Hathaway did a great job, but I felt let down by how preposterous the film got in it's final moments
Did anyone else see this one?
PS
Dianne Wiest plays the Creepy Neighbor/Hathaway's Aunt Penny. There are several scenes where she's grilling Anne on her inappropriate relationship with one of her patients. As an In Treatment (HBO) fan, I couldn't help but think that Gina from that show had suddenly had a psychotic break and was now a crazy person LOL
PPS : Hathaway did not seem old enough to hold two master's degrees and a PHD. Her character's improbable level of education was one of the least far fetched plot points though, I must admit
