THE PASSENGER 2023 Ending Explained | Recap Review | Horror Movie Breakdown
The Passenger is a new thriller-drama film starring Kyle Gallner and Johnny Berchtold. What happens when two starkly different men are forced ta take a road trip together?
The plot starts with a flashback where we see a young boy by the name of Randy. He witnesses a horrific scene of a woman bleeding out from her eyes. In the present day, Randy wakes up with the haunting nightmare of this incident as it had left a profound impact on his mind. He drives to his workplace, a rural drive-in restaurant where he was on the job for the last year. This morning his boss calls him and his colleagues for a short discussion where a guy by the name of Chris was too horney with his girlfriend. Chris was a crapy worker and a bully. His boss reprimands him for last night's unfinished work and assigns today's work to rest. Later he calls Randy for a private meeting as he was impressed with this hard-working, order-obeying, perfect innocent guy. Out of generosity, he offers him a favor. A managerial position at another restaurant. Randy doesn't respond to this offer as he was not sure what to say. It was certainly a promotion yet he didn't seem happy. His boss asks him to think over if he is really serious about it. Here we see a peculiar thing, all staff had their name tag on their shirt while Randy had his surname, Bradley.
After this meeting, Chris started bullying Randy as he had nothing else to do. Randy was used to this kind of behavior, he never fought back or opposed it directly. He had accepted this routine as he was not tough. Chris here went further, he forcefully tried to feed Randy a day-old rotten burger and even threatened him. All this while another guy by the name of Benson was silently watching this while cleaning the floor. He now interferes by asking Chris to stop. Chris was way out of his league as he threatens Benson too if he pokes his head around. Benson was visibly angry at this. He casually walks out of the restaurant to his car, picks up a shotgun, and returns. He fires at Chris and shoots him dead. Chris's girlfriend Jess starts screaming seeing this as this was certainly unaccepted. Hearing her voice the boss came rushing, he was shocked to see Benson snaping and as he tried to escape Benson shot him as well. Then he tried stopping Jess from screaming but she was in shock. He shoots her as well. Randy was frozen and almost catatonic seeing all this.
When Benson points the gun at him he doesn't flinch, as if he was ready for whatever happens next. Benson decides to take Randy hostage while forcing him to clean the mess. These two move bodies to the meat room and then locks the restaurant. Randy obeyed his orders as disobedience could result in his own death at any moment as Benson had snapped. As Randy became the forced passenger in Benson's car to an unknown location, he was still unsure as to why Benson didn't kill him.
Benson assured him that by the time the police would figure out the killings they will be long gone. Benson here was feeling as if nothing has happened, he was clearly a psychopath. Later parks his car in front of a burger joint to have his breakfast and orders some food. Here he reveals his reason for sparing Randy. He was observing Randy for many days who was clearly an introvert. Benson wanted to teach him a life lesson to make him tough and fight for himself.
He wanted Randy to make decisions for himself rather than accept what others are telling him to do. Randy became an experiment for Benson to see what he will do if he is forced to confront the situation and how far he will go. Off coarse all this is a lie and this psycho would shoot Randy the moment he felt threatened. Yet he wanted to play this exposure like therapy. At the joint Benson misbehaves with a staff by the name of Marsha and tells him directly on her face that she did nothing with her life. It's an offensive statement yet he said that to show Randy that it will not affect her life in any way.
After breakfast these two drive on where Benson discusses Randy's past. He comes to know that Randy was forced to take the second grade twice by his mom. There he had an incident. He completed his high school in 19th year instead of 18th. Benson calls this over parenting as no kids would fail a second grade. These two later arrive at Benson's house where her mom was bedridden. Benson gives her breakfast and orders Randy not to touch anything. He was here to collect his revolver. Benson's mom observes blood marks on Randy's dress and was sure it was not a ketchup as Randy was putting it. She asks him to hand over the phone so that she could call the police. As Randy was about to hand it over to her Benson attacks him and stops. He took him back to his car and says I want you to decide for yourself. But not the kind of stupid decisions which will put me in a pickle. Meaning Randy here had the opportunity to call the cops on 911 but he was hesitant, shy, and scared. He didn't make the decision, instead, he handed over the phone to the lady as she asked. Accept making calls to cops Benson wanted Randy to act up.
Back at their restaurant, another worker shows up for her shift and it seems she saw the blood marks and calls the cops. These two continue their road trip where we see a police car rushing past them. After some time Benson makes a stop at a gas station to fill the tank. Randy is left alone to fill up the tank while Benson goes inside to pay. Randy looks around for a safe place to run or hide but there was none. Benson removes his gun and points it at the back of the cashier to indicate to Randy that if he runs he will kill that guy. If any other person was in Randy's place he would have ran but Randy being a shy and passive guy submit to the situation.
Later Besons asks about Randy's love interest. Randy says he had a girlfriend by the name of Lisa with whom he broke up because her cat died. I mean this guy is really weird. Who breaks up with someone because of a dead cat? Benson was laughing hearing this as he was curious too. He decides to dig deeper into this issue by visiting her. We see a police officer at Benson's house implying the news of the killings might be out.
Lisa was working in a mall's toy store and it was Saturday. A class of second-grade school children were supposed to visit the shop hence she was busy stuffing the animals.
She was surprised to Randy after many months. She says she never really broke up with him, she just cared more about the cat at that time. She wanted Randy to understand her feeling about the cat and appreciate it. She wanted him to console her but Randy never showed any such emotions. He didn't even try to chase her after she moved away. Lisa further complained about Randy's refusal to share the incident when he was seven years old. After carefully listening to her Randy understood her point and there was hope as Lisa too was helpful towards him. But right now he needed get this psycho out of here as soon kids will be here soon. As Benson and Randy head out, Randy's mom calls him to check on him. She was bossy and always kept a tab on Randy's movement. She wanted him at the house asap but Randy lies to her about the mess he was in. He slowly started to make decisions as lying to her was his second while dragging Benson's ass was the first. Somehow Benson's toxic exposure therapy was working.
As the duo continue on their road trip Randy shares his incident when he was in second grade. One day at his school his teacher Ms Beard yelled at him for being naughty which he took emotionally. In a rage, he slingshot an eraser at her which hits her eye. The lead in the eye causes her to lose the eye permanently and soon she became a victim of harassment. This incident changed her life as she lost her job and fell into the dark world of mental health issues. This traumatic event left Randy riddled with guilt and regret. The first scene was his mind's interpretation of this guilt. A child's angry act ruined someone's life. But luckily Ms. Beard had recovered and nowadays she was still teaching at the same elementary school. Here Benson again forces Randy to confront his guilt even when Randy was highly reluctant. The two asked the clerk at the reception to give them the address of Ms. Beard. Since it was Saturday she was not at school. The clerk was hesitant at first citing privacy but once she knew why Randy wanted to meet her, she gave the address.
Here Benson saw another teacher Mr. Sheppard walking past him and confirms whether he taught central elementary back in the day. Mr. Sheppard confirms it. While heading to his car Benson beats the hell out of this guy to the point of killing him. Randy this time intervened and stopped him. This was his third time making a decision that impresses Benson. I guess Mr. Sheppard was not kind to Benson when he was in his class. These two knock at Ms. Beard's doorstep where she instantly recognizes Randy. She invites him in and offers tea. Randy apologizes to her for everything and seeks closure. Ms. Beard was very kind, she had accepted pain and learned to cope with it. She had no animosity towards Randy as that was all an accident. She had learned to move on in life. Now she had a daughter Tessa from her divorced husband. She was worried about Randy for many years as an incident like that will surely leave its mark. All this time Benson was at the restroom leaving these two to talk.
When he returns Ms. Beard gets a call from school saying someone had attacked Mr. Sheppard. She became suspicious as these two got her address from the school. She freaked out when she saw blood marks on Benson's hard. Benson again snapped here and pointed a gun at her. She took her too as a hostage. While leaving the house Randy sneakily pocketed her mobile as this was his fourth decision. These three were circling the town as Benson had no plan of what to do next. Randy makes an excuse of needing a toilet which forces Benson to drive back into the same burger joint where Masha was working. Inside Randy gathers courage and dials 911. Masha confronts Benson about his comment on her life. This angers Benson who shoots at her feet. He was about to shoot a lot more but finally Randy screams at him to stop. The police siren was audible as they were on their way. Benson thought its Ms. Beard who might have called the police and fired at her. But the bullet hit Randy who tells Benson to stop as there was no point in doing what he was doing. He reveals the truth of calling the cops which shocks Benson. He stops his rampage with tearful eyes and says I was never in charge. It turns out Benson was suffering from his issue of mental health and was refusing to accept it. He knew his condition yet was trying hard to prove to Randy that he was better than him. Finally, he accepts his situation and walks out with imitating shooting. Police gun down him.
After a few days, we see Randy babysitting Ms. Beard's daughter Tessa where Ms. Beard was helping him. This whole episode leaves Randy in a much better place as in a rude shocking way it helped him to move on with his life without fear. His relationship with his mom also improved because of this. The movie dives into the psyche of Benson who was clearly a psychopath and a victim. He lost control the moment someone tried bullying him. He knew from the very first kill he knew that he will get caught.
He never tried to escape or go out of town. He wanted to feel that control. In Randy, he saw that opportunity, a man more conflicted than himself. I guess by forcing Randy he was giving him a second chance at life and also trying to redeem himself. In the end, when he judged Randy's all five independent decisions throughout the day, he felt redeemed. He decides to end his life as he thought he deserved it.
We see the toys of a crocodile and Girrafe which Randy and Benson chose to stuff at Lessa's mall at Ms.Beard's house for her Tessa. Implying perhaps Randy and Lisa are together. Perhaps visits her often at the shopping mall toy store. This movie is a must-watch thriller with the message of even when suffering from deep trauma change is possible. All that is needed is a little bit of help. Hope you liked this recap. Please give it a like and subscribe to my channel. For more visit my blog from the link below. Thanks for watching. Take care.
