MovieChat Forums > Passengers (2016) Discussion > let's balance the morality... (spoliers)

let's balance the morality... (spoliers)

posted 7 years ago by [deleted]
21 replies | jump to latest

(contains mild spoilers if you haven't watched this yet)

First, middle, and last: they were ALL DEAD. ALL 5000 plus crew would have died in their sleep pods after the damage was done to the ship.

They were ALL SAVED by the TEAMWORK of Aurora and Jim.

Now, I say BALANCE the morality, because, yes, Jim made a very bad decision. That's what the people in movies do: make bad decisions to give us some conflict in a story.
True. Done. But the BALANCE is that they saved 5000+ lives

The ship was hit, breaking down, and would have exploded and failed if not for Jim and Aurora working together to fix the issue. Not gonna say he did the right thing waking her, but it ENDED UP being a decision that saved the day.

And another lost plot point is that Aurora, apparently from the comments her friend makes on the video message, has never found anyone that was a good match to allow her to fall in love with. I mean NO ONE. Her friend is HOPING she'll find someone out there to fall for. And she did. The guy that took her planned life and ended up making it more than she ever dreamed of.

Again, not saying what he did was RIGHT, but in the end, it balanced out VERY admirably.

[–] Batty67 (358) 7 years ago

I liked this movie quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, it was a fluffy, entertaining movie, with out much depth. As for the outrage with what Jim did...its a movie. Lots of folks, maybe even most, would have done what he did IF they did not suicide first. Would there have been as much outrage if Aurora (or a female lead) did the same to a male character, for company?

I mean, we can watch movies about serial killers and child murderers and people take it in stride as a movie.

[–] TexasJack (12516) 7 years ago

I don't think any dude would complain if JLaw woke him up to be her companion.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Yep, just a movie, with interesting and TOUGH dilemmas. I found it very entertaining, even besides all the plot holes. Just an entertaining space flick!

[–] TexasJack (12516) 7 years ago

I think he was right to wake someone up, but it should have been someone who was equipped to help diagnose whatever was wrong with the ship rather than his dream girl.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

That's what I think too: wake people that can help. Looking back, I think the only ones that could have were the crew behind the sealed door. The rest were JUST passengers, like him. He could have reviewed all the passengers one by one, but more or less, he went kind of crazy after a year leading to his decision.

[–] Batty67 (358) 7 years ago

Yes, the crew was sealed, but based on what we suspect then learn, even if he managed to gain access to the crew, there's not a damn thing any of them could do. 90 years to go... Plus, they would likely would be super-pissed.

[–] GuyOnTheLeft (236) 7 years ago

But I think it would have been fair and legitimate for a stranded passenger to wake up crew members, which is why the writers made sure that was impossible.

If however he was able to learn that the deck chief was in the passenger section, he should have woken him up. Had they done that first, it could have been an interesting alternate version of the movie where they argue about whether to wake other people up.

[–] Xenopharb (617) 7 years ago

He didn't know how badly the ship was damaged, so that point is moot.

On the other hand, he could have not woken anyone up, went crazy, and turned off all of their pods just to spite them.

He should have woken up seven people and had a grand time on the ship. It was like a hotel with no job to do. Is that really that much worse than actually ending up on that planet?

[–] GuyOnTheLeft (236) 7 years ago

Yes, I think people are overrating how supposedly terrible it would be to live your life on a luxury cruise without having to work. Especially if as you say there were several other people and not just one.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 7 years ago

The morality can be said to balance ... but I don't think it has to balance.

In fact, the point of the story was that Jim's decision was unquestionably immoral, but he was a "drowning man" at that point.

Aurora came to see things his way because (A) by sheer chance his decision was critical to saving the entire ship and (B) more importantly, she finally realized what life would be like without him, or anyone else.

In other words, I don't see it as a story that requires moral balance so much as empathy and understanding between the main characters

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

good points and perspective. My goal claiming moral balance was how many peeps were deriding him waking her up and ignoring the total, big picture: EVERYONE was going to die, and they saved that chunk of civilization.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 7 years ago

True, and upon reflection it's NOT sheer chance that their awakenings were necessary to the ship's safety. Jim woke up specifically BECAUSE of the damage that threatened the entire ship. So did Gus.

The damage isn't moot or irrelevant, in other words. Jim was a victim himself, in a sense.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

True!

[–] MagneticMonopole (286) 7 years ago

"good points and perspective. My goal claiming moral balance was how many peeps were deriding him waking her up and ignoring the total, big picture: EVERYONE was going to die, and they saved that chunk of civilization."

Still doesn't erase that what he did was morally reprehensible, though. It's a good thing for everyone on the ship that he was weak the moment he woke Aurora up, but it is just a coincidence (and very lazy script writing) that this ended up benefiting everyone in the end.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I dabble in script writing me self and get why the coincidence is lazy, but, TO ME, the overall space ride was enjoyable enough to let this universe happen as is. Sometimes, I'm okay when a movie just goes where the wind blows, without having to connecting cleanly and perfectly.

Yep, what he did was wrong, but what the random asteroid chunk did was WAY WRONGER. :D

[–] GuyOnTheLeft (236) 7 years ago

Well said. The drowning man explanation was key.

[–] Renovatio (2990) 7 years ago

he picked the hottest babe he could find... lol

[–] Geiri (862) 7 years ago

Well right or wrong all of us would be conflicted between two bad options.

The options are to commit suicide (which he almost did at first) or wake someone up.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I don't like rewriting completed films, but she COULD HAVE been woken up by the glitch as well. Or us lead to believe that at first. Might have had more impact later when the robot followed his logic.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 7 years ago

If she'd been woken by a glitch, that would've been a different movie, albeit closer to the one the trailers showed

It'd be like imagining Star Wars without Luke - conceivable but a different movie

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

like I said, I DON'T like rewriting finished movies. It worked for me as is. They could have made it so we kind of ASSUMED she too was woken by the glitch, THEN find out he did it.

But, the movie is completed and decent as is.
We could also make up stuff like Space Aliens invade the ship hahahahah