Being a reviewer of high def media sure has its benefits. One is that you get a chance to see films that you may otherwise have either never heard about or never really thought to purchase or rent. It gives you the opportunity to see some real gems that you would have otherwise missed. However, having access to all these films is a two edged sword, as you also have to review films that you may wish you had never seen or wasted your time seeing. That brings us the the film Passengers, which I really had not heard of before it arrived at my doorstep. It certainly had an interesting premise. Was it a gem or a real loser? The answer lies below.

Film

Passengers is described in the press materials accompanying the film as a chilling supernatural thriller. I guess 1 1/2 out of three ain’t bad. There is no question that the film deals with a topic that is supernatural in nature. However, I didn’t find it all that thrilling and the chilling aspect of the film doesn’t come until the last 10 minutes or so and even then, it is a rip off of another film which handled this material way better and amounted to a much more suspenseful and chilling film with greater emotional impact. I really can’t give the name of the prior film as it will destroy your enjoyment of this film in its entirely as it will totally give away the plot. Suffice it to say that once the ending of Passengers is upon you, you will know exactly what prior film I am referring to.

So as to not give too much of the plot away, Passengers centers on Claire, played by Anne Hathaway, who is a young therapist who is called in by her “mentor” (Andre Braugher) to help surviving victims in place crash cope with their feelings. She conducts a small group session and notices that members of the group seem to be missing and that some members appear to have been watched by a mysterious man from the airlines (David Morse- yes both stars of the late great CBS series Hack filmed in Philadelphia star in this film set in Vancouver). She begins to suspect that the plane crash may not have been an accident as claimed and that the airline is covering up the real cause of the crash. Claire also becomes emotionally and physically entangled with Eric (Patrick Wilson) one of the survivors of the crash who refuses to participate in her group sessions and who seems to hold the answer to the whole mystery. Once you see the end of the film, I am sure you will agree that the prior film alluded to handled this material in a much better fashion, with much better pacing and a much more convincing sense of suspense.

For most of Passengers, I was wishing that the film would move much quicker to a conclusion, wondering to myself, what the heck is going on here? While certain aspects of the film fall into place once the ending is revealed, others do not and make no sense at all. A more coherent and convincing narrative would have made for a much more enjoyable film. Rated as a rental only.

Video

All-in-all, I was quite pleased with the look of this film on Blu-ray. The picture has a very natural and well saturated color palette with good although not quite reference black levels. The film appears to me to have been shot in Vancouver under overcast skies which fits to overall mood of the film quite well, providing a rather grayish cast to the film. I was also impressed with the overall level of detail and clarity which was quite good. The combination of good blacks and very good detail and clarity gives the film a nice sense of depth.

The overall level of detail and clarity even held up well in the numerous nighttime scenes in the film, which did not soften up appreciably which is often times the case in scenes filmed in darker environs. However, there was one anomaly with the film’s visuals that involved the appearance of Anne Hathaway. Maybe it was just me but it appeared to me that she was shot with a much softer focus than the other actors in the film. The detail visible in her face, such as skin texture and the like seemed to be softer than that of the other actors, even within the same frame. While I didn’t find this too distracting, it did draw my attention away from the film a copy of times. Overall, I was quite pleased with the look of Passengers on Blu-ray. While the film doesn’t quite have the level of detail, clarity, sharpness and depth of the very best looking films on Blu-ray, it is a fine looking film and an encode that the fans of this film will find quite pleasing.

Audio

The audio on Passengers is not quite up to the level of the video presentation. For a chilling supernatural thriller, the sound design failed to use the surrounds effectively in my opinion to convey much in the way of suspense. In short, the sound mix is too front heavy for a suspense film, with most of the audio emanating from the front three speakers. While the surrounds are active during the entire film, they are at too low of a level to make much of a sonic impact.

Don’t get me wrong, the film does have some aural moments, such as the place crash sequences which have excellent dynamics and a very immersive, impactful sound design. However, these scenes are few and far between. However, the film’s sound does have good overall fidelity with a full and smooth sound that is easy on the ears. The dialogue track is also well recorded and well placed in the sound mix. While there is a lot to like about the overall sound of the film, the sound mix just doesn’t supply the audible cues to convey the sense of suspense that the visuals and dialogue are trying to create.

Special Features

There aren’t a ton of extras included with this release and the ones that are are rather common faire. Deleted scenes are provided as well as an audio commentary with director Rodrigo Garcia and actor Patrick White. Two rather mundane behind the scenes featurettes are also included, namely The Manifest & Making of Passengers which includes interviews with the director, producers and cast of the film and Analysis of the Plane Crash, both of which are in high definition. The disc is also BD-Live enabled which allows viewers of the film to download exclusive content from the web, register for rewards and give feedback on the film and the Blu-ray experience through a survey. I frankly didn’t find a lot of material here all that interesting. If you have the time, check out the featurettes. Otherwise, just watch the film.

Final Thoughts

Passengers provides an above average video presentation with an audio track that should have been much more suspenseful. The material presented in this film has been handled much better elsewhere. Nonetheless, Passengers is worth a gander, but as a rental only.