Review: ‘Pandorum’

Boy oh boy, sci-fi geeks are going to have a field day with this weekend.   They have 2 offerings in the sci-fi genre to choose from when they enter the cineplexs.   After reading Travis’ review of ‘Surrogates’ I realized that ‘Pandorum’ leans more into the darker spectrum of sci-fi.   In fact, it is sci-fi horror and I don’t think anyone thought it would be anything different.

I would suggest that before we proceed, if you are interested in seeing this film or you have plans to see this film, you might want to tread with caution as I think to fully experience this film, you want to go into it knowning that it is a sci-fi/horror blend and that is it.   I believe that going into this film with the visual education of what the trailer and tv spots have shown us is your best bet.

Ok, now that you are ready…let us begin.

The film starts with two space crew members Bower (Ben Foster) and Payton (Dennis Quaid) waking up from a multi-year  hyper-sleep to discover that the ship they are on is dying in power resources.   Neither of them can remember the mission due to the fact that they have been sleeping for so long which has the side effect of mild to severe memory loss.   Bower volunteers to try to get to the ship’s core reactor up and running as it comes on and off to give the ship spurts of power.   Bower and Payton both realize that this must be done to get anywhere as their doesn’t seem to be anyone answering their lines of communication.   Through his discovery of the ship on his trip to the reactor, Bower realizes that he is not alone.   There are creatures that are hunting for human flesh and Bower is forced to not only proceed with the dyer mission, but to hide in every nook & cranny of the ship to survive.   Throughout the journey, while guided through radio communication between Payton, Bower encounters survivers that seem like they have been awake for awhile and seem to know what is going on.

I will stop there because to give anymore away would take away from some of the mystery that the audience is deeply shrouded in.   The Cast is adequate.   Ben Foster, who usually excels in the smaller bit roles he is given, does a decent job of leading the film but it seems like he still needs a couple of more roles to chew up if he plans on being a lead actor.   Don’t get me wrong, I believe he can do it.   The problem is seeing him in something like ’30 Days of Night’ or ‘3:10 to Yuma’ or even ‘The Punisher’ is that even though is roles are smaller, they are so damn memorable.   So seeing him in something where he is front and center and playing a role that doesn’t disguise him and lets him cut loose with the character almost puts more pressure on him to knock the role out of the park.   While I didn’t feel for any of the characters of the film personally, I did understand and sympathise with the position they were in.    Bower seems to be the only motor in a dark and grim machine that will fight and move forward to try to save everyone on the ship.   The production design and creature design (headed by Stan Winston Studio)  is one thing that stands out throughout the film.   It is simply amazing.   The creatures will remind you of ‘The Descent’ at first, and trust me you will hear ‘Pandorum’ being associated to that film in probably every review, more on that in a minute, but definitely develop their on their own and they are trully frightening.  

While ‘Pandorum’ may borrow from other films like ‘Alien’ with it’s dark and wet corridors and definitely take a page from  ‘The Descent’ with a claustrobic scene where Bower worms his way through the skeleton of a ventilation system that seems to be stuffed with rubber tubing, the film still stays fresh and has some very tense scenes.   However, the film does have it’s flaws.   The middle portion of the film moves at a snail’s pace and I thought I was already invested in the film for 2 hours yet it was only an hour into it.   The last half just seems to rush through and eventually starts to lose grasp on what was making the film frightening and tends to dip it’s thoughtful head in a pool of sub-standard sci-fi/horror/action films.

‘Pandorum’ being the  head puzzle that it is has a lot of great ideas that hints at religion, mythology and even an environmental warning(come on, what recent sci-fi film hasn’t though) yet still struggles to stitch everything together.   I think the film will be enjoyed by sci-fi and horror movie geeks out there, but the mainstream will hate it.

While I think most of you will see this film at home after reading this review, I implore you to check it out in the theatres where you can be more immersed in the nightmarish environment that ‘Pandorum’ presents.