Pandorum Grading & Discussion (Spoilers)

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Starring Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster & introducing Antje Traue to American audiences.

The film is set aboard the Elysium launched in 2153, a massive sleepership sent on an 123 year journey to colonize the only other known Earth-like planet, Tanis.

Sixty thousand passengers and crew shipped aboard in Sol, but when Lt. Payton (Quaid) and Cpl. Bower (Foster) wake from hypersleep, ostensibly to take their two-year turn at the helm, they appear to be alone, and literally in the dark, with the ship in an advanced state of disrepair, its reactor gradually failing.

Their memories affected by prolonged hypersleep, they retain their flightcrew training, but little else at first and both soon begin to suspect they are developing the symptoms of the dreaded Pandorum, or long-term, deep-space paranoid psychosis that drives men to murder and suicide.

When Bower begins exploring the ship, hoping to restore the imbalanced reactor core before the lights go out permanently, he encounters a handful of passengers and crew, all isolated, desperately trying to survive in the dark, hunted by gibbering nightmares heralded by ghostly blue lights.

As Bower and Payton fight to save the ship and her dwindling survivors, their memories slowly return, and the mystery of what has befallen the Elysium is revealed.

______________


I found this to be a superbly executed sci-fi horror film. There were elements of Heinlein, Dick, Howard and Lovecraft stories, hints of Alien and The Thing. Atmosphere, sets and special effects were all excellent. The story was engaging, with a geniune mystery and unexpected ending. The acting was top notch, especially from Foster, though Quaid and Traue (who is a gorgeous new German actress) were very good as well.

Whoever decided NOT to market this film is a fool. It should have been played up as a sci-fi horror flick for Halloween, not unceremoniously dumped in September. If it fails, it's not for lack of quality.

Go see this movie!

 

[DarKush]

I concur. I really enjoyed this film. It's one of the best sci-fi horror films I've ever seen. I was a little worried when I saw Paul W.S. Anderson attached to the project, but Pandorum turned out to be a good film regardless of his involvement. It almost makes up for Event Horizon, which this movie reminded me of but was a 1000 times better than.

Sidenote, I couldn't help thinking about the creatures in the film that Stargate Atlantis would've been so much better if the Wraith had been more like them. They were vicious.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I am planning on seeing this later this week. Will post my thoughts on it later. Have been looking forward to since I discovered it's premise about a month ago.

 

[od0_ital]

Saw it the other night at a free screenin' with a buddy of mine.

At the end of the night, the best thing either of us could agree on was that, hey, at least it was free.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Just saw it tonight. My general feeling is that it had all the elements of being a good Alien rip-off, but the director and the writer weren't quite talented enough to pull it off so it ended up being a mediocre Alien rip-off. I won't go on too much about it but I though the story was too disjointed and never really came together as a coherent whole. Parts that should have really been fleshed out weren't, but then turned into major plot points. Other things they spent a lot of time on were explained with a throw-away. Might be worth a rental, but i wouldn't advise anyone to see it in the theaters.

 

[Harvey]

The reviews so far have been pretty medicore to negative, but a friend of mine saw it and was positive about it. Then again, she compared it to Event Horizon. It was a favorable comparison for me, as I like that film, but that might be a blaring red light for some.

 

[JacksonArcher]

I enjoyed Event Horizon and Pandorum looks to be cut from the same cloth so I'll eventually check this out.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Pandorum is similar in tone to the first -really good- half of Event Horizon; you know, the part before the writer decided Hell was where the ship had gone and Sam Neill hadn't gone all Book of Blood yet.

 

[AvBaur]

I also really liked Pandorum. It is indeed rather similar to Event Horizon, but imho much better. While I didn't like the second half of EH at all, Pandorum manages to convincingly pull off a couple of surprising twists in the last act and has a near perfect ending. And the acting's top notch, too, at the very least from Ben Foster.

Not all of its ideas are new, but it's still a great film for fans of sci-fi horror. It doesn't come close to the greatness of the first two ALIEN movies, but I definitely liked it way better than, say, Sunshine or Event Horizon, which both ruined otherwise fine movies with a terrible last act.

 

[Ethros]

Saw it this afternoon

I was feeling generous and so went for 'Decent', but would probably have put it between that and 'meh'


It was ok... it would be unfair to call it boring as it wasn't, but it never overly excited or engaged me. Made me jump quite a few times though I'll tell you that.
It was just nothing I hadn't seen before. The monsters were freaky, but it was all very like The Descent in space.

Spoiler: Plot spoilers

And I guessed almost straightaway they'd be like the Reavers in Firefly/Serenity, not actually aliens but humans who've gone mental or whatever

I really liked the visuals in the ending, but I can't say I'd ever really care about watching the film again

 

[caisson2delta]

I hadn't seen or heard anything about this movie on tv, print, or anywhere. I went to go see it last night and thought it was quite good. It has some flaws, but overall was enjoyable. I agree with the OP, if this had been set for a Halloween release, it might have been a big deal. I recommend it for anyone looking for something decent to see.

 

[Deckerd]

If it's anything like Event Horizon and Sunshine then I'll give it a miss.

 

[Lookingglassman]

I really liked Event Horizon. A ship that went to hell and back was interesting. I might check this out.

 

[stonester1]

Loved it. And the actress, Anje Traue, she wants me.

I can tell.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Caught this at the dollar movies. Worth about that.

Felt like a made-for-SyFy movie with a bigger budget, and indeed, according to IMDB, it was gonna be made in an abandoned paper mill with unknown actors with a shoe string budget until Impact Pictures noticed the script.

I guessed every twist. One seemed a bit cheap.

Spoiler: Pandorum

The ship was already on the planet, yet it seemed that earlier shots, not just flashback exposition ones, indicated it was in space.

Not sure why "evolving" people turn into cannibal killers. A better idea would be those were the natives of that world...the proble failed to detect them.

 

[Can]

I liked this one. Sure the scrips might not be too original ( I kept saying myself "Event Horizon" + "Dead Space" PC Game ) but the atmosphare in Elosyuim was dark depressing and claustrophobic enough....We are learning what is going on piece by piece with main character. Neither he nor audience was spoon fed anything...The movie was taking itself seriosly enough. And twists were surprising...