Passengers

An atmospheric but ultimately unsatisfying brain-twister, filmmaker Rodrigo Garcia's Passengers stars Anne Hathaway as Claire, a young psychologist assigned to counsel a handful of survivors following a terrible airplane crash. But then a strange man begins stalking Claire, a morose airline executive accuses her of attempting to convince her patients to say that the crash was caused by mechanical rather than human error, and the patients themselves begin disappearing. Hathaway's role doesn't require her to do much more than mope around in bewilderment and vague fear, and while the solid cast includes such stalwarts as David Morse, Dianne Wiest, and Andre Braugher, what ultimately causes Passengers to crash and burn is an ending that is just a pale imitation of The Sixth Sense. After puzzling through a chain of ambiguous clues towards a surprise solution, viewers have a right to expect something more than just watered-down Shyamalan. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Rodrigo Garcia and star Patrick Wilson, the “making-of” featurette “In the Night Sky: The Making and Manifest of Passengers” (23 min.), an “Analysis of the Plane Crash” featurette (17 min.), three deleted scenes (7 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a disappointing mindbender.] (F. Swietek)