Seen on: September 27, 2009
The players: Director: Christian Alvart, Writer: Travis Milloy, Cast: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Norman Reedus, Cung Le
Facts of interest: Christian Alvart also directed "Case 39."
The plot: Two members of a spacecraft crew wake up on board and have no clue who they are and what's going on...
Our thoughts: Walk into “Pandorum” with low expectations, and you may be pleasantly surprised. No, Christian Alvart’s sci-fi horror flick is by no means a masterpiece, but it boasts a series of atmospheric scenes and scary moments I found quite enjoyable to watch. In other words, “Pandorum” is not a complete disaster.
Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid play two crewmen who wake up on a huge spaceship with no idea who they are or what they’re doing there. As one of them starts to explore what first looks like an abandoned spacecraft, he soon realizes that their ship has been taken over by an army of ruthless monsters hungry for human flesh.
The story of “Pandorum” is pretty straightforward and certainly nothing to get all excited about. On the contrary, the plot here fails to impress, and the film is definitely more monotonous than it is surprising or innovative. After all, there is nothing original about a guy running away from monsters for 108 minutes.
Okay, Foster’s character is not exactly fleeing, but he does spend most of the film’s running time trying to reach a specific area of the spacecraft, and his mission does get a tad repetitive during the second part of the film. Luckily, the first half of the movie is at least entertaining to watch. Oh, and it’s quite suspenseful as well.
Alvart and his crew decided to create a feeling of isolation on the spaceship, and the darkness surrounding our protagonists creates a creepy atmosphere. The film also features several shock effects, and while some are quite effective, others don’t work so well. In my book, the first 20 minutes are easily the best.
“Pandorum” doesn’t offer cinemagoers anything new in this genre, but it successfully avoids boredom, and that despite a second half that fails to pull off a decent twists and isn’t nearly as spectacular as it could’ve been. Other than that, it really doesn’t have anything memorable to offer.
Foster and Quaid are two actors with the capability to deliver awesome performances, but this time, they don’t really get a fair shot to give us their best. The script supplies them with mostly superficial dialogue, and their characters are not given decent enough development to make me care for these guys.
Freaky quote: "There's no one here except us!" – Ben Foster
The final word: “Pandorum” works in terms of brainless, simplistic big-screen entertainment, but don’t expect anything more. The film lacks details and suffers from obvious plot holes, but its generally fast pace and occasional suspense will make it easy enough for you to sit through these 108 minutes without wanting to escape the theater.
Article by Franck Tabouring