Talk us through itAn unknown dude wakes from hyper sleep and has to determined who he is, where he is, and what his purpose is. Apparently prolonged hyper sleep has a few downsides including memory loss and things going to hell in a hand basket while you are under. He finds his name is Corporal Bower and he is a member of the sixth flight crew aboard the deep space probe Elysium. No prizes for guessing the relevance of the spacecraft's name. In due course a second flight crew member, Lieutenant Payton, also wakes with more details of what their mission is. The ship's reactor is playing up, read close to meltdown, and Bower determines that he is an engineer with knowledge of how to reboot the reactor. Unfortunately the doors are shut between the hyper sleep compartment and the rest of the ship, which turns out to be a good thing. Bower crawls through the ventilation shafts and accesses the rest of the ship only to find that they are not alone, other crew members are active, and what appears to be a hostile alien force is hunting the corridors for errant humans. Can Bower with directions from Payton survive the journey to the reactor, what exact is the crew's mission, and where is the Elysium headed? Ready to descend into total mayhem in deep space?
Review“We're not out on the belt collecting data. And we're not hauling cargo. We are the cargo.“ - PaytonPandorum was one of those movies that held it's secrets close to it's chest, even after the trailers, and which proved to be an entirely different beast to what I had it pegged as. I was expecting a core SciFi outing, the first block of the movie is pretty much what you expect, but was delighted to find I got a sort of Aliens meets The Descent across town from Mad Max in the Doomsday saloon film. Add a pinch of Event Horizon and you are pretty much good to go. Pandorum is a jackdaw of a movie that borrows from previous outings but it's a movie that still manages to mix things into something pretty unique. Monsters in outer space, we're good to go folks. Alien I guess kicked off the modern cycle of horror movies masquerading as SciFi vehicles to slip under the radar of Studio Executives. Pandorum can be seen as a direct descendant of Ridley Scott's “monster in outer space” outing with both movies taking traditional horror elements and tarting them up with futuristic settings. About the only SciFi elements either movie has is being set in the future and being out beyond the stars. In both cases the holodeck has been replaced with a used utilitarian industrial look, both the Nostromo and the Elysium are working vehicles with scant regard for human comforts. Surprisingly, given the nature of the space craft, both managed to have some pretty wide open spaces in amongst the claustrophobic hallways that allow alien menaces full reign. In the wash-up then Pandorum is a monster movie that could conceivably have been set on Earth with some tinkering. Director Christian Alvart delivers on a standard three act movie that is only really let down by the shock ending that can be seen lumbering over the horizon. The film is good enough however for the ending to be only a minor inconvenience in the overall scheme of things. The first block allows the audience to find out what the Elysium's mission is, and who our two astronauts are. We're talking pretty straight science fiction here, loved the futuristic razors, and things settle down to Bower needing to reboot the reactor. In the middle act Pandorum makes a u-turn and heads into dark genre space with the more angry cousins to Neil Marshall's crawlers hunting down surviving humans. What exactly the “hunters” are will provide the major question through the rest of the movie, it's one hell of an answer when we get to it folks, stay tuned for that one. Finally we get to the third block where everything is resolved in a sort of Event Horizon psycho twist that adds yet another dimension to Pandorum. There's a fair amount of synchronicity going down during the course of the film and for sure the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. I really dug the horror elements, loved the concept of iron age warriors fighting their very own grendels in outer space, and could groove to the SciFi trappings like a Trekkie hitting the first day of a convention. Alvart gradually unravelling of the situation is the common thread that will have you on-board his groove train dancing to the beat. To further ensure our well being and general entertainment Alvart has his action on, the fight scenes are well constructed, his horror on a simmer, the hunters rock in both design and share nasty appeal, and things galloping along at a decent pace. Pandorum is never going to be accused of taking the slow route once we get past the SciFi trappings in the first block. The Director keeps things interesting with some well past excellent scene shooting and angles. I really dug the set constructions and the general feeling of just how huge the Elysium was, of course Alvart breaks this down by having Bower face dangers both both human and non-human, its hammer time and Alvart kicks it through the posts for a major. 
What I guess surprised me the most about Pandorum was that it was a U.S studio effort rather than a Brit Indie, guess there's still some life left in the shambling beast that is Hollywood after all. The movie presents very much in a European style rather than the general dumbed down efforts we have come to expect from the U.S studio system. Not to put too much of an emphasis on it but this one wont work for the general movie fan who expects to sit back on their arse, scarf popcorn, and have every single plot point demonstrated to them in excruciating detail. Pandorum relies on the Audience putting in some effort and actually listening to the dialogue that goes a long way to explaining what is going down. I'm surprised by some online Critics who are pointing at plot holes that simply don't exist, script writer Travis Milloy has your back covered in terms of internal logic. Besides a few people that seem to have dialled into the movie expecting a straight SciFi saga, and who were naturally disappointed, about everyone else is going to have to sit back and take the movie as a whole rather than point the finger at individual scenes. It's all very concise and self explanatory really, if you listen to the dialogue and let your mind flow of course. Sorry to those expecting popcorn cookie cutter stuff, this is an intelligent monster movie that keeps coming at you. Without getting into too much spoiler territory, the Elysium carries the last hope of survival for humanity and their genes have been tampered with to give them the best hope of survival on the new world Tanis. Catch the movie to fill out the plot pointers from there, but watch the whole movie before passing judgement. One of the major talking points about this movie is whether or not the hunters were products of Bower's pandorum, a psychological breakdown brought on by the rigours of deep space travel, or were in fact real. This is a similar argument to that revolving around Neil Marshall's crawlers and Sarah's state of mind. Marshall tried to include a Hospital scene that he couldn't get to work that might have brought a whole new meaning to “The Descent”. In terms of Pandorum it's more cut and dry, we get hunter action when Bower isn't present which would indicate the hunters are real and not a product of Bower's imagination. Dennis Quaid (Payton) surprisingly didn't have that big a role, he disappears for whole sections of the film, considering he had top billing. Quaid, clearly there to add some cred, wasn't pushed and delivered on a fairly non-demanding role. Ben Foster (Bower) rocked it big time as the standard action hero, but was equally up to the emotional challenges of his role. Cam Gigandet (Gallo), Antje Traue (Nadia), and Cung Le (Manh) were all solid in supporting roles. Michl Britsch provided an adequate score without burning down the house with it.
Summary ExecutionI rocked on with Pandorum and had a pretty good time grooving to Director Alvart's space way saga. The movie is heavily informed by previous outings but brings some originality to the mix and keeps things romping along like a greyhound on steroids. It had enough of the nasties to keep me caring about the lead characters, and had enough twists to keep me on edge. Considering the movie is almost two hours long it doesn't seem to be half that length, hell yeah it was entertaining me big time. A movie that was way better than expected.Pandorum is the first of a proposed trilogy, though given the box office results it's doubtful the other two movies will be made. This could change if enough people dial in via disk of course, the ball's in your court there. Icon are releasing a solid DVD package on 8th September kids buy in and help push the Studio button for a sequel. If you like intelligent horror, that still has a tad of the red stuff, then Pandorum is the movie to sink your teeth into. The movie requires some investment from the viewer but will amply pay that investment back and have you buzzing as the end credits role. Pandorum is well worth checking out and once again shows what Hollywood can do when some talent is available.
ScaryMinds Rates this movie as ... Well grounded horror movie with SciFi leanings.
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