PANDORUM
Science fiction films usually fall into two categories: the ones that have great ideas and no budget, or ones with larger budgets with no new ideas. Occasionally a film breaks this rule, of course – think The Matrix or Blade Runner – but in general, this rule holds fast.
In the case of Pandorum, it manages to make a mess of the paradigm altogether. It’s a good looking film in spots, with ample budget, yet feels amateurish and silly and without any real ideas.
Ben Foster plays an astronuat who is suddenly awakened from a long hypersleep to discover that the rest of the crew is missing. A lieutenant (Dennis Quaid) also awakens, and the two search the ship to find out what happened to the crew and the ship itself, which seems to be mostly powerless. They then discover hideous aliens running around onboard, and they have a nasty taste for blood …
This film is a mish-mash of a billion other ideas, none of which will feel fresh or interesting as presented here. The script cribs liberally from countless other, better films like Alien or Event Horizon. Stylistically, the film feels like The Descent, right down to the white, slimy aliens. It’s a truly sad thing to watch a film with this budget (the sets are impressive, as are some of the effects) flouder around with identity problems.
Quaid hasn’t given a good performance in probably ten years, and he’s bad here as well. He rolls his eyes, and spits out some lines with a growl that makes it unintentionally hilarious. Foster is okay, but he’s much better than this. The rest of the cast tries gamely to snuggle into their sub-Aliens stereotypical roles.
The end of this film is ludicrous, and smells like the screenwriter TRavis Milroy and director Christian Alvart simply slapped together the first idea they had enter their head. After watching Saw-styled shock cuts and fast motion for two hours, that ending makes the entire enterprise unworthy of anyone’s time. SKIP IT.
