Part psychological thriller, part sci-fi, part ALIENS, PANDORUM is a unique hybrid. Although nothing new in terms of things we haven't seen before (encapsulate a group of men/women and see how they react), the film is strung together differently enough to hold your attention. You never really know what's around the next corner.
The story is pretty common: Earth is doomed. Spaceships are sent out to find a habitable planet. One of these ships has been lost in space for some time, and when ship's pilot #4, Bower (Ben Foster, 3:10 TO YUMA), wakes up from a prolonged hyper-sleep, much of his memory is gone or scrambled. Slowly things begin coming into focus as he finds various clues about who and where he's at. And not long after his awakening, another pod opens up and spills out Payton (Dennis Quaid, VANTAGE POINT), a high ranking officer who's memory is just as screwed up.
Bower is chosen to explore the ship, and getting out of their pod chamber is the first challenge since they're locked in for unknown reasons. Like giving birth, Bower squeezes through the canals of the ship's innards and is expelled onto what appears to be a dead ship. But he quickly runs into friends and foes. Some of the crew, it appears, have mutated and are cannibalistic. Others have had to do terrible things in order to fight and survive. All Bower wants to do is reactivate the ship's power systems and get to the bridge.
And that's about as far as I want to go without producing any spoilers....
There are several "jump-in-your-seat" moments that'll surprise the hell out of most viewers. And the darkness of the cold ship makes for some excellent atmosphere. The sound score also added a spooky quality to the production.
Ben Foster has rarely let me down in his choice of roles, and Pandorum was no exception. His embattled and continually challenged character was pitched just right throughout the film. It was also one of the first times I'd seen him as a main character and I was pleased to see it. He's a great young actor.
And I've saved the best for last: the filming. It was pretty amazing. Again, the dark qualities and claustrophobic shots were pulled off without feeling forced or contrived (something I can't say of all films ...like THE DESCENT).
Surprisingly this film got poor reviews and pretty much flopped at the box office (costing over $40 million to make but only grossing $10 million). Shame. It's actually better than you might think.
