Pandorum
February 7, 2010
Paranoia in Space…and Cannibal/Humanoid/Vampire Things
Wouldn’t you know it: as soon as I put together a list of my Top 10 Favorite Spaceships, Pandorum arrives and presents us with the Elysium (one of the absolute coolest deep space vessels to come along in quite a while). The purpose of this intergalactic behemoth is to transport several thousand people to a newly discovered planet called Tanis, which, of course, is strikingly similar to Earth. In a very literal sense, the ship’s goal is to act as a futuristic version of Noah’s Ark. Earth is suffering from severe overpopulation, and Tanis is seen as a chance to create a settlement that will eventually serve as a permanent replacement for our decaying planet.
Such long journeys—in this case, 123 years—require the assistance of hypersleep, a staple of the sci-fi genre.
When two members of the flight crew—Bower (Foster) and Payton (Quaid)—wake up with no recollection of their mission or (initially) who they are, they instinctively set out to answer these questions. Inexplicably, they discover the presence of a strange humanoid species aboard the ship: these things are highly aggressive, and are completely reminiscent of the creatures from the claustrophobic thriller The Descent.
Director Christian Alvart seems to have taken more than one cue from the previously mentioned modern horror classic by creating a terrifying atmosphere on the Elysium that depends entirely on the “tight space” and the ever-present sense that something horrible is always right around the corner. He doesn’t commit the sin of making things too dark, however (at least in terms of lighting), which gives viewers a chance to really soak up the intricate detail that was injected into creating this awe-inspiring ship to end all ships. For the sake of comparison, let’s say it’s one part Derelict, one part Event Horizon, and one part something entirely new. Having been constructed in the mid-to-late 22nd century, it is, of course, unlike anything we’d see NASA churn out today; however, the Elysium does have that strictly utilitarian sense that one would imagine a real space vessel would embody. So, on both counts, it works extraordinarily well, and I think it’s the single most important thing that lifts this movie above any number of other ho-hum entries. There are also a number of twists that occur in the final act that are earth-shattering, but not in an overly-dramatic sense. On the whole, we’ve got a well-written story set in what is easily one of the best sci-fi atmospheres to come along in quite a while.
So it’s a winner, right?
Well, there are a few things about Pandorum that are a bit disappointing, and they do hold back the quality of the final product. One of these is the presence of the aforementioned hyper-violent humanoids. I’m not going to give away their origin, but trust me when I say that it’s not anything all that original (or believable for that matter). The film would’ve been much more engrossing as a whole had it focused only on the delirium associated with prolonged space flights. This is a movie about paranoia, and having blood-thirsty, vampire-cannibal things running around is, more often than not, distracting in all the wrong ways. There’s also the presence of a character named Leland. This guy plays the role of the grizzled and heartless sage who’s seen it all, but his inclusion in the story is more of a side note than a “main attraction.” He blatantly spells out what happened about the ship in the final third of the movie, and this feels like a cop-out. Wouldn’t it have been better to have allowed the crew to discover this in some other more subtle manner (perhaps gradually, over the entire runtime of the film)? Yeah, I think so too. And, quite frankly, the brief explanation of how he knows all of this isn’t nearly as in-depth as it should be (nor does it make a lot of sense).
If you’re a fan of dark science fiction, then the story and setting of Pandorum will be more than enough to satisfy your cerebral longings. Just don’t be shocked when it succumbs to one or two cliches along the way.
out of 5
–Chris Flowers
Rated R for strong horror violence and language.
Check out a trailer for Pandorum:
