The term "thriller" when it comes to movies is unfortunately a pretty meaningless distinction these days, especially since so few of them actually thrill. It’s become kind of a catch-all phrase to cover stuff that isn’t easily shoehorned into other genres, but it does make it easier to shoehorn together a pair of smaller reviews into one of my patented two-in-one DVD reviews, so there’s that.
First up this week is Passengers, a movie which I had not even heard of before Sony was kind enough to send it my way on DVD. It’s got Anne Hathaway in it and everything, too. Expecting nothing, I gave it a shot based on the interesting premise, and it ended up being a movie that actually made me angry at the end, and not in the good way.
Hathaway stars as Claire Summers, a vaguely-defined therapist of some sort who is called in to administer her brand of hard-hitting therapy (sample question: "And how does that make you feel?") after a plane crashes and kills everyone but a few survivors. All of whom seem surprisingly not the worse for wear because of it. In particular, the movie focused on the relationship between Claire and a survivor named Eric, played by Patrick Wilson (lately of the Watchmen movie and the far superior thriller Lakeview Terrace). Now right away the movie starts losing focus because the story seems to be about carefree "met death and laughed" Eric, who was a money-hungry yuppie but now sees What It All Means and gives up his lifestyle. That’s a fine if not particularly original or thrilling premise, but as we progress and he continues hitting on Claire despite no chemistry between them, the movie also focuses on her therapy sessions with the other passengers, who begin mysteriously disappearing with lots of meaningful music and dark shadowy figures in the background. Claire suspects that there’s some sort of airline coverup going on and begins hounding vaguely-defined airline suit Mr. Arkin (played with usual hard-ass menace by David Morse) because the survivors might have seen or heard an explosion or something before the plane crashed. Lemme tell ya, for a movie that’s only 90 minutes long, this movie packs in more red herrings and questionable figures than your average episode of Lost even attempts. The questions begin piling up as the movie trudges towards the end: What is being covered up by the airline? Who is the strange un-named neighbor that’s looking out for Claire? Is her mentor actually working for the airline, and why?
But, and here’s why the movie made me so angry, NONE OF IT MATTERS. Because of course there’s a giant twist to end the movie, which by the way is spoiled by the DVD cover, that renders everything that preceded it into one big meaningless headtrip. Sometimes, if the twist is good enough and the movie is entertaining enough (ie, The Usual Suspects), a game-changing twist can enhance rather than wreck a movie experience, but in this case it just made me groan and ask another million questions starting with "Well, if that’s the case, then why " before giving up and ejecting the DVD. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s having my time wasted for 70 minutes only to be told "Ha ha, GOT YOU!" One M. Night Shymalan terrorizing the cinematic world is enough, thank you. I bet a good chunk of the people reading this could have guessed the shocking twist just by reading the setup, and indeed if that’s you, then watching the rest of the boring movie to get there isn’t worth it. None of the red herrings pay off, none of the characters have a particularly interesting arc, and the ending wasn’t particularly satisfying. Apparently Sony buried this one to keep it from hurting the Oscar buzz for Hathaway’s much better turn in Rachel Getting Married, and I can see why. (Rating: **)
On the other side, you’ve got Taken, which is a movie for those who feel that Jack Bauer has been getting too soft on the criminal element as of late. Imagine if you will if James Bond decided to retire at the end of the Cold War and become a bodyguard for Britney Spears, only to be forced out of retirement when his daughter is kidnapped by slave traders. There is no big twists here, no extraneous characters, no bullshit red herrings, just a pissed off Liam Neeson killing the shit out of bad people for 93 minutes. The involvement of Luc Besson was a real blessing here, as it felt like a throwback to action movies of years past and yet still fresh enough to score huge at the box office.
So as mentioned, the plot sees former agent / mercenary Bryan Mills trying to re-establish ties with his teenaged daughter (played by Maggie Grace of Lost, as she plays it very giggly and silly to really drive home the point), a spoiled rich girl who wants to go to Europe and follow U2 around on tour with her BFF. How can THAT go wrong? Bryan, being the worldly guy that he is, tries to persuade her with logic and reason, but of course all 17-year-old girls know everything. Until they’re kidnapped by Eastern Bloc slave traders, of course, with nary a ransom note.
What I immediately like about Neeson’s character here is that he’s an ACTIVE participant in the plot. He doesn’t wait around to hear from the kidnappers or try to figure out what to do, he ACTS. Based only on the sound of the leader’s voice and a brief description from his terrified daughter, he is able to trace them to Paris and start causing havoc because he’s taking it all very personally. And amazingly, the situation is never played past the point of absurdity like Arnold movies would have been, as everything he does is at the very least within the realm of believability for someone as highly trained as he is supposed to be. He is cold, ruthlessly efficient and best of all completely without mercy for the people who have put him in this situation. Yeah, basically Besson’s The Professional again, but that was a hell of a movie so I’m not complaining. Plus there’s some of the best death scenes here, in a PG-13 movie no less, this side of Commando. Action junkies need look no further to get their fix. (Rating: ****)
Taken is highly recommended, Passengers is maybe worth a rental if you haven’t already been spoiled as to what the Big Twist is.
