Earth's population has reached unprecedented levels. After an inhabitable planet is discovered light years from Earth, construction begins on a spacecraft (a Noah's Ark, of sorts) to bring thousands of humans to the new planet to propagate our species. As the ship is in flight, nuclear annihilation obliterates Earth, leaving a gap in the celestial map. A final message is broadcast to the ship as Earth breathes her last breath. The mantle of civilization has been passed on to the ship.
The ship contains several flight crews. Due to the distance from Earth to the new planet, the flight has been divided into segments. Each crew is cryogenically frozen. One crew navigates the ship while the other crews sleep. As Bower (Ben Foster) awakens from his cryogenic suspension, he slowly regains his memories. The deep sleep causes some side effects, which includes some short-term memory loss. As Bower's memory returns, he is faced with a puzzle. He is in the belly of the ship and must make his way to the bridge to relieve the current crew. However, the power in the ship seems to be disturbed and the exit door is jammed shut. He wakes up another crew mate, Payton (Dennis Quaid), as he attempts to remember details of their mission and figure out what has gone wrong.
In the process of trying to save the ship, Bower must battle mutant aliens that possess lightning speed, cannibals, booby traps and dementia. The ship has become a war zone and will soon stop supporting life. The nuclear power generator must be reset or it will die completely. Bower must battle his way to the reactor and save the ship with very little time to spare. In the meantime, all is not what it appears to be. He must keeps his wits to survive and save the frozen families that have not yet been cannibalized. The very future rests on Bower's shoulders.
The concept at work in Pandorum has been done before. The plot is predictable. Most of the twists in the storyline are thinly veiled. It does not take long to figure out the good guys from the bad guys. And then their are the mutants...which are more obstacle than characters. There are only four major characters in the film (Payton, Bower, Nadia and Manh). These characters are developed sufficiently for the rather tepid plot. What made this film worthwhile for me was the unexpected ending (the one twist that made the others meaningless) and the pacing. Although jumbled at times (and visually dark), the action sequences were tense. The action held my attention. I also liked the fact that the mutants weren't "invisible." It was nice to know the enemy...in a sense, it heightened the suspense for me.
The acting was exceptional. It appeared that much of the action involved the actual actors, although I am certain there were some scenes that required stunt doubles. The performances lent to the credibility of the story. Dennis Quaid has interesting interactions in a plot-line that becomes quickly predictable, but Quaid allows the role to unfold naturally. Foster was exceptional. I thought his performance brought the right measure of confusion, tension and resolve to make him a credible hero. Antje Traue takes on the role of a survivor named Nadia. Her ability to survive has made her distrustful. Traue was attractive and interesting. Her performance did not necessarily stand out to me, but she was interesting to look at. Cung Le was interesting as Manh. He speaks a different language, so most of his communication is non-verbal. It was an interesting approach, that Le managed to make work. The cast was mixed, but strong enough to take a rehashed idea and keep it exciting.
I don't know what the budget was for Pandorum, but it was enough to deliver some exceptional special effects. From exceptionally fast and strong mutant aliens to creating the feel of a city-sized spacecraft, the special effects crew managed to sell the illusion. The excitement created by the pacing and plot are greatly enhanced by the effects. There is a decent amount of violence and bloodshed, which are also very credible due to these effects. In some ways, poor effects might have elevated this film to cult status...due to the other good attributes...but I enjoyed this film the way it was. The only exception in the effects department was the shadowing used by the camera crews. The film was dark and hard to follow at times, making some scenes feel choppy. The film was rated R due to the violence. Run time is one hour, 48 minutes.
Pandorum is decent sci-fi. It isn't Aliens and doesn't pretend to be. It contains the suspense elements that make deep space exciting without selling out completely to the special effects. The decent acting, tolerable dialogue and plot twists may feel like deja vu at times, but they are mixed together with a combination that feels just unique enough to make this film worth recommending. 6.5/10.
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