22 May 2012

Pandoras Rum

Saw Pandorum, on Encore last night--which was trashed by most critics. Not sure if I'd recommend this very spooky; atmospheric sci-fi offering--but the movie has stuck with me...and I'm recording it in about an hour. Synopsis...sorta: A couple of astronauts awake from hypersleep, unsure what they're doing onboard a huge malfunctioning spaceship, named the Elysium (Heaven?). They soon discover that the ship is full of blood-thirsty mutants and a few other frightened human astronauts running for their lives through the bowels of this Geiger-ish (the movie, Alien) spacecraft. The Corporal falls through maintenance shafts, gets kicked-around, stabbed; etc, so much onboard the mystery ship that an ordinary human would have been incapacitated for life--ten times over (but we do live in the era of improbable action video games). Through it all the Lieutenant sits in the Captain's Chair, inside Elysian's comfortable bridge, pressing buttons and yelling, "Where are you?" over the intercom. As I quickly learned in the 20th Century Air Force: Rank has its privileges. I suppose what I really like about the screenplay is that that in their journey to reboot the nuclear reactor, the back-story is slowly revealed. I also liked the tough/sexy German actress (Antje Traue)--wearing a 22nd Century push-up bra--who could fight like a man. ("Pow-Pow": ten points!) Oh, the imaginary word: pandorum is a psychological condition brought on by extended periods of deep-space travel and suspended animation--where its victim eventually becomes psychotic. Whether this futuristic physiological condition alludes to the 3,000-year-old Greek legend of Pandora's Box, or not--I don't know. Now, if David Lynch would have directed this opus, after reworking the screenplay--imagine what a materpiece this would be. BOB as the Psychopathic Lieutenant! Strobe lights flashing. Red curtains rustling...

Danny_G13

22 May 2012

Solid horror thriller

Dark sci fi thriller with overtones of horror and psychology might notbe original, but entertains.As you may have picked up from the blurb, Pandorum is set in space likeEvent Horizon, and is a similar sci fi horror style to that Sam Neillflick, but features a number of people waking up aboard a space shipwith no recollection of their mission, their objectives, the date ortheir location.Suffice to say Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster spend the rest of the movietrying to figure this out and how to save themselves.Pandorum is not a truly great movie - the dialogue is very muffled attimes, caused by substandard audio capture in the first place, and themajority of the location is almost pure darkness - certainly a goodtest for blu ray but not your patience.But what it lacks in certain areas, it makes up for in being basicallyentertaining. The viewer WANTS to know what has happened to thismission, wants to know where they are, and wants to know who everyonereally is - to that extent it's a decent story and it's quite welltold.What it lacks are the production styles and cinematography - too muchincoherent darkness with fast cameras and a lack of easy identificationof what's going on.There is also a niggly feeling of miscasting - neither Quaid nor Fostersuit their roles. They're not awful, but they don't appear comfortable.Cam Gigandet is the only one who is half decent and that's quiteworrying given he's alongside 2 major players in the Hollywood scenewhile he's still relatively minor.Nevertheless, for its faults, it's a basic and simple yarn - bread andbutter entertainment and worthy of a watch. There are better, but thereare much worse.Decent.

David Tolfree

18 May 2012

A good SciFI film but with some lacking of originality, coherence and futuristic technology.

Just seen the film Pandorum. It was slightly disappointing for me.After films like Moon, Alien and Pitch Black, my expectations wereprobably too high. It did have an Alien film feel about it. The storyline was OK but the film lacked originality and coherence, and themutants were old zombie type images seen in many other films. It seemedto lose the plot in the middle and some of the dialogue was confusing.Too many of the scenes were done in darkness making watching sometimesa strain on the eyes. Most of the time I did not get the sense that wewere in a spaceship, even one as large as city. It was not until theend, which was the best part of the film, that all was revealed.As in many SciFi films, 20th century technology was used on thespaceship when it was supposed to be in the 22nd century. Lightedkeyboards on computer controls are unlikely to exist in the nextcentury. And there is unlikely to be conventional nuclear reactors. Bythat time alternative power sources will exist. Anyway even with someof these technical issues, the film can be added to the genre of goodspace fiction films. My footnote is: I am still waiting to see a filmthat beats 2001- Space Odeyssey.

James Hurley II

18 May 2012

I cant believe this movie got 6.9 out of 10

This movie is absolute rubbish. I read another review saying that ismovie was better then Event Horizon BUT this is absolutely NOT true...this movie is weak in ALL respects. Weak script, weak special effects,weak everything... Rather Watch Aliens again you are going to have abetter time FAR FAR Better. This is derivative rubbish plain andsimple.. boring, stupid and derivative. Please don't waste 1 and a halfhours of your life on this like I did. Save yourself NOW and run in theother direction.... SAD but TRUE. There is nothing I can recommendabout this movie, it is a waste of time EVEN for me who loves horrorand loves sci-fi genre. Please don't watch this.

Razvan Alexandru

11 May 2012

In space, nobody can hear you scream. Or see you gnaw on astronaut body parts.

I watched 'Pandorum' a few hours ago and by God, was this refreshing.It's the kind of flick critics tend to frown upon while audiences tendto relish through and through. Well, not quite any audience. If you'veenjoyed movies like 'The Descent', '30 Days of Night' or 'The MidnightMeat Train', then know 'Pandorum' is a bit of each and then some. Ifneither rings a bell, do pass it up.It's brutal, it's gloomy, it's relentless and above all it's got a nicelittle story to tell on top of all that creature-related fun andfrolic. And while we're on the creature subject, Stan Winston's company(R.I.P.) was on the job. Even though they borrowed heavily from 'TheDescent' there, the creature kinetics was great. Acting was also wayabove par as both Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid delivered great,sustained performances throughout. One final word on the directingside. As I understand this was Christian Alvart's only significant jobhe's landed so far. Judging by the way he's handled Pandorum, he'sbound to make it big. Fingers crossed, Chris.With its winding post-apocalyptic story and that bleak, dense,impending doom Alien-like feel to it, 'Pandorum' was one of the onlytwo sci-fi movies I enjoyed this year. Duncan Jones' 'Moon' was theother one, though GERTY never quite got round to butchering Sam. *Sigh*

Look4Him

11 May 2012

Best Sci-Fi in years!

I would say it is the new "Alien". I cant wait to see the sequel! Superb script and very well done filmography and photography. Theacting is very realistic and believable. In every horror/monster film the characters always act irrationally,they make something totally different of what you really do in the samesituation. This movie is different. You can trust the main character, he isbelievable, smart, and you'd probably act the same way.It'll happen with this movie the same happened with "the Matrix" . Inthe beginning nobody understood the critics were not very fair, butafter a year or two, it became a cult.

Aaron1375

09 May 2012

At times I thought I was watching Dead Space the movie.

This movie was rather good, not perfect by any stretch of theimagination, but for a movie that went virtually unnoticed at the boxoffice it was surprisingly good. Just seemed something more needed tobe added, I can not pinpoint what it is, just that it felt incompletesomehow. The plot has an astronaut waking up in his sleep chamber inrather unpleasant fashion. His memory is spotty to say the least and heis totally disoriented. Though he does use a razor that I would love tohave as I am betting it would be the closest shave ever. Well he soonwakes up another member of the team and they both deduce that they aremembers of the flight team. They are apparently on a giant vessel thatis flying through space and are part of a rotating shift of pilots onthis vessel, only they were supposed to have been woken up by the shiftbefore them so something is up. Well the one member who woke up firststarts crawling through the air ducts and it is not to long after heplummets out that he meets a rather aggressive lady and something elsethat does not appear to be human. So the rest of the movie is this guytrying to get to the reactor of the ship as it is causing problemswhile the other guy directs him when he is able. The cast is rathergood as Ben Foster steals the show as the guy who does everything andDennis Quaid is good too as the guy who is having a bit of troubletalking him through this mess while also dealing with another shipmatewho may be suffering from a sickness caused by space travel calledPandorum. It is also interesting that they titled the film after thisillness as I was figuring it would be the name of the ship or somethingto that effect. There is some gore here an there and some tense momentsas well as a few somewhat surprising plot twists. Just needed maybeanother plot twist here or there or perhaps had a different one here orthere and maybe a bit more monster action and I would have liked it abit more. Still, it was quite strange in a good way which made itinteresting.

SebastienPatenaude

08 May 2012

Pandorum pandemonium

It starts very well with the most memorable unerving sequence of thefilm : a man waking up in some kind of cryogenic tube inside aspaceship. He's lost, alone and doesn't remember who he is and whathe's doing there. Despite a strong start, Pandorum, although fairlygood, does not impress enough to become a classic. For fright, itrelies mostly on jump scares accompanied by loud sound effects. It'salso rather claustrophobic since it takes place almost entirely insidewith very little light except that provided by glow-in-the-dark sticks.That gives us some nifty neon colors in the dark although the lightingin general didn't strike me as particularly well done. The story, onceit gets moving, is rather simple with a clear cut objective that we areconstantly reminded of. What's more interesting is the mysterysurrounding the Pandorum, the ship and what happened to its people.The main character (Ben Foster) was decent but not outstanding. I likedthe psychological tension taking place between Dennis Quaid's characterand the second guy he encounters, especially its clever denouement. Asfor the secondary characters, I'm afraid I did not care very much forthem because they weren't really developed. One of them looked prettyenough but I kinda missed actresses of the quality of Sigourney Weaveror Mila Jovovitch who emote so much better. Action-wise, it was OK butnot great. You can expect the usual quick cuts and closed-in shakycamera so prevalent these days. If you're looking for claustrophobicsci-fi horror in the vein of Event Horizon, Alien or the Descent, youcould do worse. I think I might have enjoyed more the mystery aspectsthan the horror aspects though and Pandorum is not as good as thetitles mentioned above.Rating: 6 out of 10

08 May 2012

(Dead Space + Alien) x (rip off) = walk out of theater

The thing that pisses me off most about this movie, is that all of the money wasted on this could have been used to finally make a Rendezvous with Rama movie. Instead we have this pimple on the face of real science fiction.Pandorum smells like a made for TV movie that snuck into the theater, maybe another crap movie propped open the back door with a trash can so it could sneak in. I have NEVER found myself critiquing camera angles in a movie.....The monsters look horrible in this, it's as if the rest of the movie is serious and the creatures are jokes, it would have been so much better if they said "hey instead of cheesy dead space rip off monsters, lets just make them regular people who were desperate and resorted to cannibalism once in a while, maybe more of a political theme here". If I was sitting at the holywood round table when this happened I probably would have been promoted.The surprising thing about this movie is that the special effects regarding space, flash backs, as well as the detail put into equipment, are actually pretty good, that is the one reason that I bumped it up to a two. I have only walked out on one movie in the theater, and that was the sequel to dumb and dumber, this would have been the second one but my wife wanted to "ride it out until the end".If you have any desire to buy this movie; DON'T. I don't know if its even worth renting to be honest, instead, buy dead space (the video game) for xbox or ps3, or better yet, watch the original alien, or maybe even event horizon.

07 May 2012

Above average but predictable.

This review is from: Pandorum (Amazon Instant Video) Note: Contains a tiny spoiler. The film is definitely entertaining. The acting, plot and effects are enough to keep you going. It is definitely better than most movies I have seen through Amazon. But there are a lot of predictable elements. Good triumphs over evil. The Adam and Eve characters definitely survive. The black and Asian side-kicks do not. It has "sequel" written all over it, but I don't think it grossed enough to merit another run. If you are a Quaid fan, you will find him underutilized. So, don't watch it for him.

clgarglez

03 May 2012

Impressed

Had my doubts on this one but since it was the only one that appeal mefrom the local blockbusted blu-ray aisle I picked it. The movie sort ofmakes you think of a correctly executed Alien 3. I sort of wished someof the deleted scened had been added though they do explain a lot butthe movie can live without them but if you can watch them after themovie.and Foster i I have to say is the best Quaid performance I have seen;the characters do remain believable and entertaining and the twist inthem are completely unexpected. That said I do recommend this movie toany Sci Fi and horror movie fan not a master piece but truly enjoyableit takes the glamour out of space travel though exploring a rarelyaddress issue. If flying outerspace do not expect first class.

03 May 2012

AWESOME!!!

this is one of the best movies i have ever seen in my time here on the planet we call earth i HIGHLY recommend this movie to anyone and everyone EXCELLENT just epic

optionsf

02 May 2012

Well conceived, original SF

I rented this DVD with no expectations but loved it! Don't know why itdidn't do better at box office, as it seems like alien for the 2010s. Iliked how you figure out what is going on with the characters as theirmemory returns. and that it is not clear whats real and what ispsychotic visions. I had dreams thinking about this film as theessential premise is true...we will have to find another planet sincewe are using this one up. Ben Fosters character brings a welcome touch point of sanity, a goodplot tool to engage the viewer. Very suspenseful!Great special effects and well done as part of the plot not extraneous.Id love to see the second of the trilogy!

fwomp

02 May 2012

Parts Make Pandorum Better Than Youd Think

Part psychological thriller, part sci-fi, part ALIENS, PANDORUM is aunique hybrid. Although nothing new in terms of things we haven't seenbefore (encapsulate a group of men/women and see how they react), thefilm is strung together differently enough to hold your attention. Younever really know what's around the next corner.The story is pretty common: Earth is doomed. Spaceships are sent out tofind a habitable planet. One of these ships has been lost in space forsome time, and when ship's pilot #4, Bower (Ben Foster, 3:10 TO YUMA),wakes up from a prolonged hyper-sleep, much of his memory is gone orscrambled. Slowly things begin coming into focus as he finds variousclues about who and where he's at. And not long after his awakening,another pod opens up and spills out Payton (Dennis Quaid, VANTAGEPOINT), a high ranking officer who's memory is just as screwed up.Bower is chosen to explore the ship, and getting out of their podchamber is the first challenge since they're locked in for unknownreasons. Like giving birth, Bower squeezes through the canals of theship's innards and is expelled onto what appears to be a dead ship. Buthe quickly runs into friends and foes. Some of the crew, it appears,have mutated and are cannibalistic. Others have had to do terriblethings in order to fight and survive. All Bower wants to do isreactivate the ship's power systems and get to the bridge.And that's about as far as I want to go without producing anyspoilers....There are several "jump-in-your-seat" moments that'll surprise the hellout of most viewers. And the darkness of the cold ship makes for someexcellent atmosphere. The sound score also added a spooky quality tothe production.Ben Foster has rarely let me down in his choice of roles, and Pandorumwas no exception. His embattled and continually challenged characterwas pitched just right throughout the film. It was also one of thefirst times I'd seen him as a main character and I was pleased to seeit. He's a great young actor.And I've saved the best for last: the filming. It was pretty amazing.Again, the dark qualities and claustrophobic shots were pulled offwithout feeling forced or contrived (something I can't say of all films...like THE DESCENT).Surprisingly this film got poor reviews and pretty much flopped at thebox office (costing over $40 million to make but only grossing $10million). Shame. It's actually better than you might think.

01 May 2012

Awesome!

This was a very entertaining movie, with a twist I had no seen before. Good special effects, great acting and even good fights.

kinderhead

01 May 2012

Sci Fi movie yes, good Sci Fi movie? No.

Now don't get me wrong, I have a weakness for SciFi flics, thetraditional ones, I mean (traditional sci fi - contradiction interms...)Alien, Cronicles of Riddick, minority report, surrogates,fifth element...you get the drift. Now about this movie:1.Dennis Quaidis wasted, with the least screen time of all the characters (a grandtotal of four!)2. The entire movie seems to be shot within a single studio location,with almost no scenes of the ship from exterior except in the beginningand a bit at the end. Seemed a bit of a budget made flic to me. 3. Justfour characters - leaving aside the alien creatures,who are not veryimaginative, pretty yawn stuff. The main star is an unknown (BillFoster), the female star is pretty enough, but somehow she doesn't fitin, and Dennis Q, as I said,is wasted in this role. 4. Weak plot,far-fetched and unbelievable. 5. For the year 2152 too many items andtoo many similarities to current years, like the torches, the style oftalking, the computer keyboard, the lighting...hey, this is supposed tobe 150 years or thereabouts in the future, but judging from the shipinterior, their languaqe style etc it would seem to be only a few yearsahead in the future. All in all, a movie you can safely give a miss.Watch if your'e bored and got the bluray free.George Menon, Goa

perrybaxter

27 April 2012

Nice surprise

Despite reading a couple of very poor newspaper reviews I went along tomy local cineworld to catch a late showing of Pandorum.It reminded mein many ways of when I went to see Pitch Black - a very pleasantsurprise with little in the way of expectations.Although a simple plot - humans wake up on a space ship with littlememory of why they are there, only to discover crazed alien cannibalson board, whilst at the same time having to repair the ship to enableit to reach it's destination - it's well executed. There is genuinesuspense, edgy editing,action scenes and eccentric characters to keepit visually interesting and a clever little plot twist at the end tokeep the brain box thinking.Well worth a viewing.

Danny Weijs

26 April 2012

One of the best Sci-Fi Horror movies ever, really! No, REALLY REALLY!!!

Not always, not even that much... but then again, sometimes I can tellby my guts (and the DVD-cover ;-) if a movie is worth watching. AndPANDORUM was one of them... Sci-Fi Horror fans: Eat your heart out!Boy, I didn't know I was in for a REAL treat here! I had someexpectations about this movie, but they took off to another level asthe movie continued. It was just getting better and better till ''LaGrande Finale'' which left me almost applauding on my couch! Of course I have to tell you about the abundant relations with pastSci-Fi Horror flicks (wich are really a lot if you have someimagination). But It doesn't matter, because this movie ROCKS! And alot of themes have been done a thousand times over and over againwithout adding anything new or exciting. Well, these guys managed to doIt as It was meant to be: AWESOME!!!If you watched the movie already, please correct me if some of themovies enlisted beneath have nothing to do with Pandorum. When you havenot seen this movie maybe you will now because of the elements from thepast movies (which all are really cool except ''Doom'' of course). Herethey are:-Alien(s) - Event Horizon - The Descent - The Abyss - Doom - Masters ofthe Universe (especially ''Skeletor'')All-in-one: Don't mind this crappy review, just go and watch thisawesome movie as soon as you can!!! 8/10

jucube

24 April 2012

Remember when...

I remember a time, and I'm sure Denis Quaid remembers it too, whenaction scenes that failed to communicate what the actual thing in frontof the camera was (is that the monster's big toe, of the gaffer'scoffee mug, and why is it spinning, damn I can't tell, never mind,let's move on) the movie would simply be shelved by a disappointedproducer and never shown. The problem, as it was seen back then, wasthat the filmmaker lacked even the most basic storytelling ability:That of photographing a thing so that the audience can actuallyidentify what the thing is. A coffee mug, or a toe. Pretty basic. Theindividual who directed this movie is incapable of communicating to theaudience whether the object being photographed is a coffee mug or atoe. It takes a special kind of genius to pull that off.And if we're gonna send our species to another planet, could we atleast send with them a few basic principles of erosion so thatwaterfalls don't have to dump into the ocean like that?

dirikan

24 April 2012

Not any better than event horizon!

Are you expecting for a triller in a space ship with unknown creaturesand maximum action ? This can be it. But, if you are looking for aplot/story as well the other demands, this is not the movie you arelooking for.First of all, the main story is not too deep. It could be a lot better.Compared to event horizon, E.Horizon's story is twice as good as thisone. Also, there is no sense including creatures -sort of zombies- tothe movie. You're in outer space, there has to be aliens, not bloodthirst creatures.Frankly, I'm not recommending this movie to you. Go ahead and watchEvent Horizon if you haven't. If you did watch Event Horizon, go forAlien series. This list can go up to sky, but the bottom movie isobvious-pandorum!