Pandorum

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue, Cung Le
Directed by: Christian Alvart
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller
2009

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Two space travelers (Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster) awaken from deep hibernation with no memory of who they are, or what their mission is. Even more concerning, it appears much of the crew and passengers are strangely missing. As they search to uncover what happened while they were asleep- and why they awoke early, they soon begin to suspect they are not alone on the ship.

Review:

Tim: Pandorum is a movie that was criticized by critics, and I understand this. It was easy to chalk this up to a copy of other movies, and if you work hard enough, you can poke enough holes here to convince yourself this is not a good movie. However, I disagree with this assessment. I thought that this was an atmospheric, scary, thrilling movie. I appreciate the uniqueness of much of this movie, and I liked the performances. In short, this might not be a great movie, but I enjoyed myself very much. I was enthralled and entertained- and those are the marks of a good movie.

Pandorum works as a movie because it poses some interesting question. We have our protagonists awake on a spaceship with little to no memory of what is happening. We are plunged into this mystery with them, and our search for answers parallels theirs. The movie proceeds to offer up some startling scenes and images- which are occasionally pretty terrifying. The movie is beautiful o look at- as we are emerged in this distance future world, and believe it is all possible (plus, the futuristic razor blade was amazing).

While this is all good, the real strength of this film is the cast. I am specifically talking about Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster. Quaid is such a talented actor, and I just love seeing him in these types of movies. Without being showy or flashy, Quaid gives a commanding, fine performance. I enjoyed him in this film. However, even Quaid is eclipsed by the terrific performance of Ben Foster. I can barely describe how terrific Foster was in this film. He is believable, showing a wide range of emotions. I identified with his character, cared about him, and was emotionally invested in his struggle. Foster is the star of this film, and he delivers with an outstanding performance. This movie worked because of Ben Foster.

I understand that there are some plot holes here, and this movie is occasionally hard to follow and understand. But, I like that challenging aspect of the film. There are few easy answers here, even after the conclusion of the movie. There aren't enough good deep space movies, and I appreciated this film being different enough and brave enough to go where most films don't. I acknowledge that Pandorum isn't a perfect movie, and it is indeed flawed. However, flawed movies can still be quite good. I was sucked into this movie from the very beginning, and didn't want to let go until the very end. Yes, this is a different, hard-to-grasp movie, but I liked that aspect. This was a very enjoyable, entertaining movie, and I liked it.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Alien, Aliens, Legion, Event Horizon, Supernova, 30 Days of Night