Review of Pandorum (2009) by Helen W — 28 Nov 2010

I wanted to see this when it came out last year but was put off by the lacklustre reception it got. I fortunately recently got hold of a copy of the DVD and so, after a short summary, I'll give you my take on Pandorum. (Summary haters please remain in cryo-stasis until after the summary... thank you).

In a future Earth population gets out of control. Resources cannot meet demand and it's all going to hell. An Earth-like planet called Tanis has been discovered and a massive ship, Elysium, is sent out to colonise this planet. At some point, long after launch, Bower is woken in his hyper-sleep pod. Disorientated, he finds his locker and very slowly things come back to him. He is part of the ship's crew that cycle through; he is part of team five. One of his colleagues, Cooper, has already woken and is missing and the ship's power is fluctuating dangerously. Later, his Lieutenant, Payton, is brought out of hyper-sleep. Unable to open the door to the bridge, Bower crawls up into the air-conditioning ducting in order to find a way out, he must get to the reactor core in order to re-set it. Once out, he discovers that he is not alone on the ship, and not all those he meets are friendly... or even human... I think that's enough of a summary for now.

This is a pretty well made film with some interesting ideas as far as technology goes. I love the fact that each instrument, or weapon, has the means to be powered manually, at least for a short while. Decent performances all round, so honourable mentions go to; Dennis Quaid as Payton, Ben Foster as Bower, Cam Gigandet as Gallow, Antje Traue as Nadia and Cung Le as Manh.

Over all, although it's not going to win any prizes for originality, I quite liked this film. There's lots of running around in the dark, some really bad-ass bad guys and a pretty good plot to tie it all together. There are a couple of points where it does get a little bogged down, but it's still worth a viewing (IMO). Oh, what's Pandorum? Well, it's a form of madness caused by being in space alone too long... Over all, recommended.

My score: 6.4/10.