Film

The Passenger

Name: The Passenger
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Released: 2023
Cast: Kyle Gallner, Johnny Berchtold, Liza Weil, Billy Slaughter, Matthew Laureano

Other titles called The Passenger: the 1975 film.

Survival thriller
Very dark

A tense psychological thriller about a quiet man caught in the aftermath of workplace violence, forced to confront both an active threat and his own buried trauma. It's lean and claustrophobic, building dread through character revelation rather than spectacle. For viewers who prize intensity and moral complexity over action beats.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you're drawn to slow-burn thrillers where the dread lives in an ordinary workplace and the quiet man at the centre matters as much as the danger around him.

Skip it if you want relentless set pieces, because this is a more introspective piece that leans on one man's memories and fears more than on the mayhem he's caught in.

What it asks of you: Ninety-eight minutes, tightly wound, with long stretches of quiet dread that want your full attention, and an 18 certificate, so the violence arrives unsoftened.

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If you liked this

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Fallen1998

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

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A Prophet2009

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Blue Ruin2014

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Destroyer2018

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The Death of Dick Long2019

Both are about men forced into proximity with violence—not their own, but violence that drags them into its gravitational field. The survivor must navigate what happens next, and that navigation is the whole story. Neither film lets anyone off the hook.

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But It's a 1970 Italian film in black and white. The pacing is deliberate and philosophical. It requires active engagement and will not spell out its meaning. Bernardo Bertolucci's formal control can feel cold.