Nobody is knocking over any shelves for the last copy of Pandorum. It had a low budget (40 mil) and a lousy theatrical run (10 mil), despite a decent ad campaign and wide release. Maybe it’s because it had to compete with Paranormal Activity, a much bigger movie that attracted all the remaining horror fans willing to sit through this one. Perhaps this is the sort of movie that can gather up a DVD audience, because while nothing memorable, Pandorum is something you don’t see often: a sci-fi flick with actual ideas.
Because the only thing scarier than going insane is the possibility of it. That’s the fear that Pandorum exploits. At any given moment, due to a bad mixture of chemicals registered during a “hypersleep”, you can snap. (That’s where the movie gets its title.) Our two protagonists wake up from a hypersleep to find themselves on some horribly-lit spaceship populated by mutants much like you saw in The Descent. These mutants suffer from an extreme symptom of Pandorum – turning into albino ninja-cannibals.
It sounds ridiculous, and yes, it is. It boils down to how much of it you can accept, and occasionally I found myself getting engaged. While it’s hard to believe considering all the action on display, director Christian Alvert never abandons storytelling. Although there’s a predictable final twist, there are plenty of surprises along the way that bring Pandorum from generic to totally bizarre.
Despite its budget, the setting is incredibly well-built and detailed. Apparently they used twelve sets to fill in for fifty-four locations, and yet I never felt like I was watching the same cycle of rooms for 100 minutes. The lighting only enhances the effect; it’s never too dark to see anything, nor is it too visible to see what’s lurking at the end of every corridor. It’s an impressive atmosphere that proves all the more that traditional effects can outdo CGI for the most part.
It sounds great, too. The humming of the ship’s interior combined with its occasional grunts and shuffles provide eerie ambiance, and that’s coming from someone with an old stereo setup. Those with surround sound are in for a real treat.
Ben Foster plays Bower, a young engineer recently awoken from a hypersleep, suffering from a severe case of amnesia. He partners up with Dennis Quaid in order to find out who they are, why they’re there, and what happened to the ship. Quaid does a remarkable job playing the ship’s captain, who you can see is becoming more and more agitated as the ship falls apart, but Foster is the real star. He provides the last bit of humanity left on the ship; a strong feat considering the hopelessness of the situation. And he eats a bug!
As always, the Blu-Ray features top-notch picture quality, but it’s sort of lacking in the special features department. There’s a brief making-of, which dives into the genesis of the story as well as the technical stuff, a half-hour of deleted scenes, and two featurettes that play along with the film’s back story. That takes up about 50 minutes, plus there’s a commentary track with the director and producer. They’re all very well, but I wish there were more behind-the-scenes clips.
Overall, if you missed its theatrical run, rent it. I’m going to try to review more DVD releases that were generally ignored in theaters as a result of critical backlash. An overwheming majority of pissed-off moviegoers can be intimidating, which is why most passed on Pandorum. Most of the time, it will end up sucking, but occasionally you’ll find something decent. Pandorum is that decent.
