Christian Alvart’s “Pandorum” is a creature feature horror film set in space. In that respect, the movie doesn’t really depend on its sci-fi elements in the least, and its premise could have been easily transplanted to any isolated location that requires a large group of people to be locked away from civilization. The grungy, dark spaceship interiors and its many winding, bulky corridors could easily have been swapped for an underground research base, for example. But hey, who’s complaining? It’s been a long time since sci-fi has looked this dark, gritty, and grungy. And of course, deadly.

Set many years in the future, “Pandorum” stars Ben Foster as Bower, a crewman onboard the spaceship Elysium. Bower, along with fellow crewman Lieutenant Payton (Dennis Quaid), are tasked with ensuring that their ship’s cargo – humans in hypersleep — are successfully transported to a distant alien planet for colonization. Somewhere along the way, something has malfunction or gone terribly wrong, and Bower and Payton are left to sleep in their hypersleep chambers well past their wake dates. They are eventually awakened by the ship, which is currently in the midst of some massive power fluctuations, with destruction imminent if its nuclear reactor is not reset. Yup, it’s one of those race-against-time deals.

As Bower heads to the reactor, all the while hoping to locate his wife among the stack of human cargo, Payton guides him from a communications panel. Bower’s forays into the dark, seemingly lifeless ship yields results, though he may have wished it hadn’t. Dangerous, fast-moving, cannibalistic, and incredibly difficult to kill creatures have taken over the ship, turning it into their hive. There are survivors who have not yet succumbed, including scientist Nadia (Antje Traue) and Manh (Cung Le), part of the ship’s agriculture division. Separately, Nadia and Manh have managed to survive through sheer will, but all that may be for naught if Bower can’t get to the reactor to reset it. Meanwhile, Payton is joined by a younger crewman named Gallo (Cam Gigandet), who is not quite stable, and quickly begins to ramble on about the effects of space sickness, aka pandorum.

I would like to tell you that “Pandorum” is smart and cerebral, but that would be a lie. I can tell you that it’s quite the action-heavy creature feature, with some highly effective pulse-pounding sequences and harrowing escapes galore. But if you were looking for a sci-fi heavy film, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Mind you, not that that’s a bad thing. I consider James Cameron’s “Aliens” to be one of the best action sci-fi films of all time, and it’s sci-fi elements are even less worthy of intellectual consideration than “Pandorum’s”. Alvart’s movie fits perfectly into the sci-fi genre that is more concerned with thrilling, death-defying action than asking the viewer to ponder its science, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

There are essentially only four major roles in the entire movie, with some minor characters showing up along the way to lend exposition or obstacles. The movie quickly puts us into the chaotic situation by jamming us into the hypersleep chamber along with Ben Foster’s Bower. From there, we discover what’s happened to the Elysium and its human cargo alongside Bower, and Alvart and Travis Milloy never allow us to get too far ahead of their characters. We learn new information as they do, which keeps the film’s suspense at a high level, and keeps us constantly guessing about what’s to come next, or what has transpired. And as more of the revelation comes into focus, the more we realize just how FUBAR the whole thing has become for our heroes.

Foster anchors the film, but German actress Antje Traue more than holds her own as Nadia. It’s hard not to become smitten with a woman who can kick your ass and wield a blade like a pro, and still somehow manage to look gorgeous while covered in every imaginable manner of goop. Real life mixed martial arts fighter Cung Le spends the entire movie speaking Vietnamese (or at least I think that’s Vietnamese), and as a result his character probably has the most limited backstory of the four major castmembers. Even with the limited characterization, I thought Manh’s story was the most unique, and Le certainly shows off the physical skills that made him a success in the ring. His final battle with the creature’s leader (played by German André Hennicke) is one of the film’s highlights.

Earlier in its promotion, “Pandorum” was teased as a psychological thriller, with the pandorum condition playing a huge part. There is some of that left in the final movie, but for the most part this is a pretty straightforward action/horror film set in space. There are a couple of major twists at the end, one that you probably won’t see coming (mostly because the film never gives you any clues, and in fact goes out of its way to trick you into never even considering it), but the more psychological twist isn’t too much of a stretch, or, indeed, a surprise, thanks to some poor editing choices that makes it pretty obvious very early on. In that respect, “Pandorum” is really two films – the heavy fight-for-survival action storyline with Bower, and the psychological battle that Payton wages against Gallo.

If the intention of “Pandorum” is to get the adrenaline pumping, it achieves that goal with flying colors. It’s one of the better action/horror movies I’ve seen in recent years, with some great production values that make full use of the ship’s massive metal construction. Sci-fi has never looked this “heavy”. The excellent, small cast gets bonus points for cowboying up and going full-tilt from beginning to end, and their characters get messy real fast and rarely cleans up. That’s because there’s just no time for lulls, because staying at one place for too long might just end up getting you chopped up and eaten. “Pandorum” is relentless and brutal, and director Christian Alvart knows how to elicit fear with shadows and darkness. The excellent balance of suspense and action make for fun times.

Christian Alvart (director) / Travis Milloy, Christian Alvart (screenplay)
CAST: Dennis Quaid … Payton
Ben Foster … Bower
Cam Gigandet … Gallo
Antje Traue … Nadia
Cung Le … Manh
Eddie Rouse … Leland
Norman Reedus … Shepard