VOTD: How An Alternate Cut Of 'Passengers' Makes It A Better Movie

Despite having a script that was on the Black List, the romantic sci-fi drama Passengers was a bit of a disappointment when it hit theaters late last year. Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence star in the shiny film from director Morten Tyldum which took quite a lashing from critics for its problematic story. Even beyond that, Passengers was also criticized for being rather predictable. But what if there was one way to improve the final cut of the movie that would have made it infinitely more engaging?

Nerdwriter takes a close look at Passengers and imagines how the story would have played out in a much more interesting way if instead of following the movie from the perspective of Chris Pratt's character Jim, we begin the movie from the viewpoint of Jennifer Lawrence's character Aurora. It adds an entirely different feel to the first half of the movie.

Here's Nerdwriter's video examining how Passengers recut could have made the movie better:

By following Aurora, there's so much more mystery. Jim comes off as kind of creepy, and the audience wonders with Aurora whether or not he can be trusted. It makes the reveal of Jim's decision to wake her up that much more surprising. We feel betrayed right along with Lawrence. Honestly, it's surprising that the movie didn't end up being cut this way when the trailers kept the fact that Jim woke up Aurora secret from the audience. But they didn't keep it secret in the movie, thus removing any suspense or tension that might have made it seem more interesting.

Even so, rearranging the major moments in the plot only fixes part of the movie. We're still left with a rather lackluster ending that feels like its trying to manufacture something for the characters to do, making it all feel rather contrived. As the video points out, our own Peter Sciretta proposed that a Twilight Zone-style ending putting Aurora in the same conundrum as Jim might have been more preferable, but again, doesn't fix all of the shortcomings of the movie.

What do you think about Passengers being recut in this way? Did you like the original version? Sound off below!