Ok kids. We’ve got a winner. I’ll freely admit, I’m on the team. I love Science Fiction and when I see something good and especially good and smart, it gets me jumping. Since I am a card carrying member of the old guys Sci-Fi association I am also wary of Hollywood spewing forth movies that claim to be smart, look on the trailers to be cast from the same moulds of old greats like “Alien” or “Predator” and even perhaps “Pitch Black”, only to get to the theatre and find out they only had a plot summary and maybe not even that. They sold us a bill of goods.
“Pandorum” is for real. I’m calling it a classic. It’s up there among the greats. Where it sits in the overall pantheon I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to see it a second time, or a third. I’m ready to see it again right now. Lets talk a bit about why I’m feeling the love.
First off, some small illumination of the plot. No spoilers I promise. There weren’t a lot of advanced screenings of “Pandorum”. This can sometimes mean that the movie sucks and the producers don’t want reviewers to spread the word. In the case of “Pandorum” it was because they didn’t want to spill any advance beans on the secrets, not all of which are answered in the play of things.
A ship called the Elysium has been launched from a very sick Earth. On it are tens of thousands of human beings sent packing to colonize a new world, very far away. Since far away takes time, the humans on board are stored away in personal cryogenic capsules to either spend some or all the journey in cellular slow-mo. I say some because someone has to drive and someone has to play Scotty. Crew are supposed to be awakened and then re-froze on shifts as the Elysium makes it’s way to the destination planet Tanus, a place green, lovely and alien.
Christian Alvart directed and wrote the story with Travis Milloy. Christian has a way with a science fiction movie. “Pandorum” looks great. The world building looks and feels as it should. The starship Elysium is a vessel made for machines and not man. The passengers were never meant to live on the Elysium, only to sleep. The gangways and corridors were built for engineers to crawl or walk in and for the purposeful direction of cables and pipes. There are gobs of excellent horror elements and metric tonnes of ultraviolence, mostly in the form of tight, physically honest fight scenes. Mr. Alvart wants to scare you but he doesn’t do it cheaply. There are few monster jump outs. Mostly Christian builds his tension slowly. You see the creatures coming. There is time to fear. The action is varied and interesting. The humans are overmatched and hunted but not prey. There is a constant honesty in Christian Alvart’s direction and storytelling that I greatly admired. There is respect for the audience. The story constantly drives the action and there is reason and reasons for what is happening.
As “Pandorum” begins we open the show with the truely great Ben Foster as he awakens to the claustrophobic nightmare of an Elysium in the dark, apparently crewless and badly broken. As he slowly regains his senses (but not his memory) he awakens fellow crewmember Dennis Quaid. Nothing spoils the fun of a movie more than bad acting and you’ll not find a single bad performance in “Pandorum”. This is Ben Foster’s movie and he is a star but everyone comes to play.
What is happening aboard the Elysium? How have things gone so horribly wrong? Why is perception and memory so important to the destinies of the characters? There are greater dangers besides faulty memories and perhaps space madness aboard the ship. There are gangs of speedy, hungry and vicious humanoid things in the dark that terrify and also mesh smartly with the overall drama. They are not tacked on simply for affect. I was amazed at how complex the creatures were and how they behaved. They had culture and were intelligent. Why they are the way they are is not explained. A human survivor has a theory but no one on board the Elysium could know the answer and so, honorably, we are never given the answer. I suspect and hope though that the theory expressed is wrong.
The ending reveals why Dennis Quaid thinks “Pandorum” could run into sequels and also perhaps gives greater meaning and purpose to the creature’s story. As for the possibilty of other “Pandorum” films, are you sick and tired of lame and leading reasons for a movie to get a sequel? “Pandorum’s” ending and the future of it’s story was built into every frame and every line of script from the start. When you see what happens at the end you smile and nod and wish there was more.
Go see “Pandorum”. Support this movie. Right now, money is being pumped into movies that were built from scratch to suck and insult you. Christian Alvart and the surviving cast of “Pandorum” need to finish this story. When you see it, you’ll need them to finish it. There is plenty of fanboy and filmbuff nutrition here to drive us onward to more if we want it. Christian Alvart needs to be encouraged to make more movies. There are plenty of secrets left unrevealed in “Pandorum”. Spend your movie money wisely and maybe we’ll get to see the answers.
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
