After proving his leading man credentials in Guardians Of The Galaxy, Chris Pratt has endured a pretty cozy life in Hollywood. Guardians was a surprise hit both financially and critically, Jurassic World is currently the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time and even The Magnificent Seven had its fair share of fans. But Passengers brought the public's appreciation for Pratt to a grinding halt, as it was heavily criticized by critics. The actor has now admitted that he was caught off guard by the bad reviews for Passengers, but he still stands by it. Pratt admitted:
I was really caught off guard by that. It was definitely a lesson. I personally think the movie is very good, I'm very proud of it. I'll be curious to see if it holds up --- the criticism and the movie.
Chris Pratt is clearly hoping that Passengers will be able to follow the path of the likes of Blade Runner and The Shining by finding both an audience and critical acclaim in the years to come. However, social mores will probably have to relax quite a bit before Passengers is appreciated. That's because the intergalactic romance was heavily criticized by critics for a certain plot point that many believe tipped it over the edge and stopped Pratt's character of Jim from being likable.
For those of you that haven't seen Passengers and still don't want to know what goes down, here's your obligatory SPOILER warning.
While the trailers for Passengers had suggested that Jim and Jennifer Lawrence's Aurora were both accidentally woken up from their suspended animation, which was supposed to last the ship's 120 year journey to its destination, the film showed that Jim actually spent a year by himself after being inadvertently brought out of his slumber, and then went out of his way to wake up Aurora. It was a move that immediately made sure the film lost most of its audience, with its most furious naysayers insisting that it was the cinematic equivalent of stalking.
Critics were so repulsed by this narrative choice that Passengers only amassed a score of just 31% on Rotten Tomatoes, which Chris Pratt pointed out was actually lower than the amount the equally admonished Paul Blart: Mall Cop amassed on the rating website. However, rather than turning on the critics for their collective response to Passengers, Pratt pointed out to Variety that the film's box office haul of $300 million was just enough for it to make its costs back, before insisting that he will never look to blame reviewers. Pratt continued:
I never want to be in a situation where I'm blaming critics for not liking a movie. So I'll just stop talking. It is what it is and I'm proud of it.
Luckily for Chris Pratt, it doesn't look as though he'll have to worry about the critical response to Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, which has been met with impressive enough early chatter after its first screenings for film journalists. You'll be able to form your own opinion about Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 when it is finally released on May 5.
