‘Passengers’: The One Change That Could Have Fixed the Movie

[Warning: This story contains spoilers for Passengers.]

With Chris Pratt’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 soon to be hitting theaters, it’s time to rethink his previous big-screen adventure: Passengers.

The film, which starred Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence as two people who are woken up 90 years too early on a journey to a faraway planet, was poorly received by critics and underwhelmed at the box office, though it did eventually gross $300 million worldwide.

YouTuber Nerdwriter1 has laid out the fix he would make to the romantic sci-fi pic in a new video essay. In the movie as it is, the audience spends the first act with Pratt’s character, who is woken up first on the interstellar journey and spends a year alone, slipping into a depression. He later wakes up Lawrence’s character and the two fall in love — but only afterwards does she learn the awful truth that it was no mistake she is awake.

Nerdwriter1 suggests that the film would be much more effective had it begun with Lawrence’s character waking up — and only revealing the shocking truth later. It’s a solid case, and he gives you a taste of what that experiment would be like. Check out his thoughts below.