Rated R for strong horror violence and language.

108 min

Directed By: Christian Alvart
Written By: Travis Milloy

Staring: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cung Le, Antje Traue, Cam Gigandet, Norman Reedus

Nadia: You just woke up?
Bower: Yeah. Just joining the party.
Nadia: You’ll never make it!
Bower: And why is that?
Nadia: You’re going in the wrong direction

Review:

Pandorum is exactly what you expect it to be, a pure science fiction thrill ride with a healthy dose of suspense and horror thrown in for good measure.  It is not possible to live up to Alien and Aliens but this film does a very good job of surpassing films like Event Horizon and Sunshine in my opinion.  I am not saying this is a great movie but it is a solid film that will prove enjoyable for fans of the genre.

The plot of the film is as follows.  Ben Foster’s character, Bower, wakes up mysteriously from hypersleep to find himself alone trapped in a communications room and very disoriented.  He cannot remember his own name let alone what he is doing there.  Soon bits and pieces of his memory start to come back to him.  He realizes that he knows a lot about the ships reactor and that he must be a ships technician after the power of the nuclear reactor on board continues to cycle down losing power.  Soon Bower realizes that there is another person in hypersleep and is able to wake up Dennis Quaid’s character Payton.  The two decide that Bower must try to find the rest of the crew and get to the flight deck to take control of the ship.  Bower climbs through the ventilation duct to finally escape the room so he can find his way to the bridge of the ship.   The ship is not like it should be things are very strange.  What is going on and how long have they been in hypersleep for?  What happened to the 6,000 crew members?  He soon finds that he is not alone, there are other people and creatures on board.

I am not going to tell you any more of the plot, you should watch for yourself to see what happens.  I personally enjoyed the action and suspense.  I love films that there is a bit of mystery to as well.  Pandorum has that plus there is a lot of blood.  I thought some of the situations were not fully explained or could have been explained better.  The lighting and the effects add to the feeling of being trapped so as part of the audience you feel a sense of unease. There are some cool gadgetry for this film just like all other science fiction films.  For instance, there is a razor that shaves with a laser which is pretty darn cool.  Then there is a riot gun that emits bursts of energy that can hurl people into the air and explode someones head at short range.

The cast is decent and play well against each other.  I like Ben Foster, he was great in Alpha Dog and Liberty Heights.  Antje Traue who plays Nadia is definitely more than just a pretty face that I hope we get to see more of in films.  Cung Lee who plays Manh is bad ass and is in the upcoming Tekken.  Dennis Quaid brings some respectability to the cast.  Cam Gigandet from Twilight will have the tween set swooning.  I have come to the conclusion that Cam does not have much a range as an actor.

I must admit that this is the best film that the German government has subsidized.  I thought only Uwe Boll would ever produce a film (if you can call it that) with funds from Germany.  Pandorum and the upcoming awesomeness of Ninja Assassin are two films that hopefully will end the trend with audiences.

The Bottom Line:

If you are science fiction/horror fan then this is a film you must see.  I am not a huge fan of the genre and I liked it.  The special effects are cool, the sense of despair permeates the entire mood of the film.  The action sequences are cool and will keep you on the edge of your seat.  This is definitely a decent film to see with a group of friends.

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