The Passenger

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1. ›'The Passenger' by Carter Smith Review: Kyle Gallner continues to impress@namiks670d

   

   My introduction to Kyle Gallner was a few months ago with an incredibly fun and chaotic film of the named Dinner in America. It was an action-packed film that put two unlikely individuals together from totally different backgrounds. Showing a story of how one rejects everything society stands for, and how another is stuck in the formality of life as they're beaten down by those around them, inevitably growing to learn to stand up and defend themselves. I loved that film. And Gallner was absolutely the one that carried it. So when I saw that recently a new film featuring Gallner had been released, I was really excited to check it out, though it remains in cinemas and not available here in Georgia at the moment. So, I did the next best thing: I went back and looked at what else he had worked on, stumbling across The Passenger. A film produced from the somewhat famous and infamous Blumhouse studio, which is more known for its low budget horror and thriller hits over the years. I am not a fan of these two genres all that much, but I can admit that Blumhouse has managed to hit a good mark with them, creating little indie stories that come and go. Something other than the big budget blockbuster style of films that often ends up in the cinemas these days. So I can appreciate the studio for its ability to go against the trend, to find its own path. A difficulty in this era.

   And The Passenger is another hit with how this studio operates. And the film perfectly utilises the talent of Gallner to its advantage. Despite creeping up on 40, the actor still really fits the part of younger, roughed-up individuals that pursue more nomadic lifestyles that reject the norm. That sort of naive and stubborn personality of the youth. To add to the fun of The Passenger, the film clocks in at around 90 minutes in length, making it that great runtime length that doesn't seem too short or too long. Because of that, the film starts fairly quickly, jumping into an odd space in which there's already some tension building up. Now, I hadn't heard of Carter Smith before, but I was surprised at how well the film was directed. Certainly with that indie feel. But really didn't feel low budget at all, not really feeling like it came from Blumhouse either for the first quarter of the film. Usually the films from Blumhouse tend to have that Blumhouse sort of aesthetic and feel to them. It's something I expected having seen the logo pop up at the start. If you aren't a fan of Blumhouse, then you're likely to enjoy this. If you are a fan, then you probably will end up surprised at how this pans out.

   There may be some spoilers from here on, so read at your own discretion. Though I don't anyone really cares.

   The Passenger

   

   This is a bit of an odd film. I say this as it gives us the perspective mostly from a character that's near impossible to understand, and we never really learn anything about that character. It's as if one day he just snaps, that all the darkness in the world is finally pulled out of him as he joins that darkness. Working in a remote dinner in a comically disgusting environment, alongside a younger coworker that seems to be bullied and with little understanding of where he's going in life or what he wants to do with his life. When out of nowhere one of our main characters just resorts to going outside and grabbing a shotgun and slaughtering everyone in the workplace but that one younger, naive worker. It's a series of intense, odd events as it portrays a lot of the world around these two characters as a total series of nastiness. People that just thrive on making the world a nastier place, each with their own interests and agendas: greed, humility, or a refusal to step in. This becomes a common theme throughout the film as we see how much of it orients itself around a worldview that is mostly negative, this idea that sometimes we have to step up for ourselves and fight back. This idea that revenge is a fundamental aspect within society, otherwise you're forever trodden on and left to rot. There's some truth to this, and for some of the film it actually makes a lot of sense to the viewer to believe this ideology. Though the more we watch, the more we see that this particular character has been pushed down so much that he can't tell the difference between good or bad anymore.

   Character studies in this regard are often great to me, I love seeing how characters break down and seeing their reasoning for their actions, even when their actions often seem wrong or too dark. Sometimes we see how someone can dish out sheer horrors upon others, only to have that horror justified in some capacity, to which the view later questions the idea of morals and justice. To which extend can justice have a limit if the wrongdoing initially far exceeds that of which regular justice can serve? In the case of The Passenger, we see a character essentially take another person's life into his own hands in attempt to save it. Though it's clear that a lot of this comes from his own broken life and refusal to step in and take action to improve it. His own personal trauma being the way he is, though never actually addressing it. That's about as much depth as we get regarding this character, which sometimes feels a bit thin as it's hard to really understand his aggression and motives as the film progresses. Constantly screaming at people or holding a generally threatening tone. I think some extra story regarding his ways would've helped the film a bit. As instead it does start to feel repetitive and make him seem more like he's just utterly insane rather than someone with backstory.

   

   In regards to the directing, I think Carter Smith did a pretty good job with it. The ambient use of music that's often gentle and somewhat nostalgic. Somewhat synth-oriented. It gives off a more sympathetic look at the two characters as the day progresses, how the past ends up following them in some capacity. What starts off as a story of revenge and someone sticking up for another, it turns into a more sort of hostage situation in which he's forced to be a part of this attempt to stick up for himself, which serves slowly as a counter to that constant lack of morality in the more violent character portrayed by Gallner. To which he portrays that character with such perfection. Such a horrible character on screen, but sometimes one that makes sense. That ability to give us something to connect with while also seeing he's totally insane is powerful, and I don't think many other actors could've pulled it off quite like Gallner does. Johnny Berchtold as the more innocent, scared character that can't handle the world adds as a nice contrast as a result. Almost always stiff and quiet, sort of following along without saying no, which contributes to that former accusation of his idle nature that leads him to misery and manipulation.

   For a crime and drama film, I'd say it performs quite well. Though the aforementioned downside regarding a little more character development was what led to it being a bit weaker than it could've been. But at the same time this is a film with a 90 minute runtime, and for that I think it managed to cram in enough of the good stuff. Being beautifully shot and with some really great performances.

   

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