Passengers (2008)

A grief counselor working with a group of plane-crash survivors finds herself at the root of a mystery when her clients begin to disappear.

Director:

Rodrigo García

Writer:

Ronnie Christensen

Stars:

Anne Hathaway, Patrick Wilson, Andre Braugher

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anne Hathaway	...	Claire
Patrick Wilson	...	Eric
Andre Braugher	...	Perry
Dianne Wiest	...	Toni
David Morse	...	Arkin
William B. Davis	...	Jack
Ryan Robbins	...	Dean
Clea DuVall	...	Shannon
Don Thompson	...	Norman
Andrew Wheeler	...	Blonde Man
Chelah Horsdal	...	Janice (as Chelah Horsdale)
Karen Austin	...	Hospital Receptionist
Elzanne Fourie	...	Young Emma
Stacy Grant	...	Emma
Conner Dwelly	...	Young Claire

Storyline

After a plane crash, a young therapist, Claire, is assigned by her mentor to counsel the flight's five survivors. When they share their recollections of the incident -- which some say include an explosion that the airline claims never happened -- Claire is intrigued by Eric, the most secretive of the passengers. Just as Claire's professional relationship with Eric -- despite her better judgment -- blossoms into a romance, the survivors begin to disappear mysteriously, one by one. Claire suspects that Eric may hold all the answers and becomes determined to uncover the truth, no matter the consequences.

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Plot Keywords:

survivor | passenger | plane | explosion | counselor | 

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Taglines:

One accident. Ten survivors. One mystery to be solved.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements including some scary images, and sensuality

Details

Official Sites:

Metropolitan Films [fr] Official site

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 September 2008 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Almas pasajeras

Filming Locations:

Gastown, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$172,544 (USA) (24 October 2008)

Gross:

$270,659 (USA) (31 October 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

TriStar Pictures, Mandate Pictures, Persistent Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Eric's apartment is at 1007 East Cordova Street, Vancouver, British Columbia.

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Goofs

When Claire is going through the pilot's logbook on the porch, you can see that most of the blocks on the right-hand page have "check marks" in them. These blocks should have "hours" in them for conditions of flight - how many hours were at night, in instrument conditions, etc.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Claire Summers: [talking on her phone in bed] Hello. Hello... Oh, hi. Hi... No, wide-awake. What's up?

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Soundtracks

"The Cuckoo Waltz"
Music by Johann Emanuel Jonasson
Played by the player piano

User Reviews

A decent drama, but not really a "horror-thriller"

I enjoyed this movie, but you need to be wary about how it's being described as a drama- horror-thriller. It's far more a drama than thriller, and I can't think of any horror elements in it at all. I don't want to give any of the movie away, so I'd like to describe what might make it more likely that you'd enjoy it.

Passengers concentrates on character development and primarily on Claire Summer (Anne Hathaway), a therapist who suspects she's discovered a cover-up while treating the survivors of an airplane crash, but also deals with her awakening to the reality that she's sacrificed too much personal life for her career. Her loneliness is as important to this movie as the mystery she's trying to unravel.

I liked Hathaway in this role. I wouldn't normally have thought of her as playing the part of a professional woman with two Masters degrees, as she usually conveys beauty and warmth instead of intellect. However, she's portraying a young academic on her first real-world case and she's convincing when she spouts the predictable, psychobabble an inexperienced therapist would likely spout. I also liked her relationship with her mentor Perry (Andre Braugher). The only weakness in the film might be insufficient scenes exploring her loneliness. It's the reason she gets involved with Eric (Patrick Wilson) but it should have been set up better. I'm not sure we're entirely convinced she would have gotten involved with him. Her isolation from family and friends should have been developed more.

It's not a great movie, but I did enjoy it, and I don't find the complaints I've heard about the movie credible; that it's slow and derivative. North Americans have developed such short attention spans, "slow" often only means there's not a car crash every few minutes. Yes, it's derivative, but so is Eagle Eye, a film currently doing very well at the box-office, which is obscenely derivative, but it doesn't seem to bother anyone since it's loaded with car crashes and other mindless action. (Eagle Eye is also appallingly dumb!)

If you're looking for a drama with some elements of suspense which takes it's characters seriously, then I would recommend it.