Redundant and unnecessary.

Pretty Good

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Michelangelo Antonioni likes very much to place the action of his films in the desert: "Red Desert" (1964), "Zabriskie Point" (1970) and some of this "The Passenger" (1975) Professione: reporter (original title). Not much is happening in this last one. I wonder how many were interested in watching this film if it did not have the name of Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider (due to her previous role in "Last Tango in Paris") and Antonioni himself? I don't think too many. I like other Antonioni films, very much, especially "Blow-Up". I really like Jack Nicholson and "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" is one of my favorite movies ever. But this "The Passenger" is something hard to look at. Only the scenes with that angel called Maria Schneider's are somewhat more digestible.

Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger see's Jack Nicholson star as a burnt out reporter covering the conflict in North Africa. Whilst staying in his hotel, he comes across the body of an arms dealer named Robertson who coincidentally looks very similar to Nicholson's Locke. He switches their I.D and decides to co-opt his identity.The Passenger is a film about someone in the midst of an identity crisis, it's about someone who wants to free the shackles of who they are. This is one of the most subdued performances I've seen from Nicholson. Here he feels like a character that has depth and struggles. It was refreshing to see him in a role like this rather then being a caricature of himself. Maria Schneider also does a good job as Nicholson's accomplice.The main problem i had with this film was it felt a bit lifeless. The film was technically sound, and it looks gorgeous due to being shot on location. When I was watching the film I couldn't work out if it was meant to be a thriller or a character study, in the end it's more of a character piece. Over-all The Passenger is a visually beautiful, with a great performance from Jack Nicholson, but the story didn't connect with me.

Antonioni's quietly minimalist approach to storytelling has never really resonated all that well with me. In "The Passenger" his style is very much intact, giving us several good settings, two mysteriously interesting characters and some very nice moments of high quality dialog. But all this in a way I found a bit frustrating.Maybe I'm too used to today's direct, explanatory style of storytelling and can't read between all the subtleties, as the overall impression I was left with was one of a diluted movie. Still, this is a very smart thriller that has a very real sense of the unknown in it.

Lately I just haven't been able to hit it right with my film rentals. This is yet another example.Lest all of you find me an idiot, I'll say up front that I really love Blow-Up, also from this team, along with dozens of other films. This just wasn't one of them.The story is that David Locke (Jack Nicholson), a reporter, is sent to Africa to write about activities there. While in a cheap hotel, he finds the dead body of someone he knows slightly, a man named Robertson. Locke is obviously miserable with his life because he takes this man's identity, puts the dead body in his room, and everyone thinks he's the one who died.This man, Robertson, had an airport locker number written down -- obviously this is before 9/11, when they got rid of the lockers. Inside Robertson finds a bunch of papers with gun drawings, and later he is approached by two men who ask them for the papers. Turns out Robertson was running guns and being paid a large amount of money.Robertson/Locke picks up with a young woman (Maria Schneider) who tags along with him. When he finds out that a reporter friend of Locke's is looking for him, Robertson, he gets the girl to help him escape. They take off together.However, Locke's wife has discovered the switch and everyone is after him -- the terrorists want Robertson, Locke's wife wants to know what's going on, and she has the police with her.This had the makings of an exciting story but instead it was long, boring, without much dialogue, but with beautifully framed shots and interesting locations, plus a good performance by Nicholson.I freely admit I don't understand the appeal of a film like this. It had no energy, no pulse, and I didn't feel anything for the characters. It's always films like this that get huge scores on IMDb and are hailed as masterpieces. To me, No Country for Old Men was a masterpiece, A Man Escaped is a masterpiece, Autumn Sonata, Ace in the Hole, The Dead, Fargo, so many others, but alas, not this one. I guess I'm not deep enough.