The Passenger (2023)

The Passenger is the kind of lean, nerve-tight thriller that doesn’t just chase adrenaline—it crawls under your skin and stays there, powered by two performances that feel uncomfortably alive. Carter Smith directs with a steady, unsettling confidence, turning everyday small-town spaces into pressure cookers as Johnny Berchtold’s withdrawn everyman gets dragged into a nightmare by Kyle Gallner’s chillingly charismatic coworker. The vibe is tense, anxious, and strangely intimate, like you’re trapped in the passenger seat with no control over where the night is headed. It’s not for the faint of heart—this is brutal and profane—but if you like character-driven thrillers that use violence to expose fear, regret, and survival instincts, it’s a gripping ride.

The Passenger wants to be a tense, character-driven thriller about a passive guy being forced into action, using a sudden burst of violence as the catalyst for an uncomfortable “self-improvement” road trip. The problem is it often feels like a strong premise stretched thin, with slow pacing and a story that moves in pretty expected lines rather than building toward a truly satisfying payoff. It’s also not shy about harsh brutality and nasty language, so if you’re sensitive to graphic violence or you want your thrillers to be more clever than grim, this could be a rough sit. Still, Kyle Gallner brings an unsettling intensity and there are a few effective, nerve-tight scenes—just don’t go in expecting a deep mystery or a big, cathartic ending.