Two of the most impressive films I’ve seen this year fall into the science fiction genre. The first being the South African “District 9” from Neill Blomkamp and now “Pandorum” under the skilled hand of director Christian Alvart.
This was a film I was eager to view since first coming across it and, although I had great expectations, they were easily surpassed. I find that the film is a clever mixture of various potent films in the same genre with elements of 1997’s gory “Event Horizon” by Paul W.S. Anderson, the Barry Levinson film “Sphere” of 1998 and the exceptional 2005 cave horror “The Descent” from Neil Marshall.
Clever usage of the Earth’s population increase is superimposed, up until a time when man has no choice but to reach out into space and find another planet to call their home. Such a planet very similar to Earth visually, that may hold man’s future, is Tanis.
Ben Foster leads as Bower, a technical officer who wakes up on board a gargantuan space ship called The Elysium. Due to the effects of extended hyper sleep, he has no recollection of who he is or of the mission at hand.
Learning his name and kitting himself up, he then finds Lieutenant Payton (Dennis Quaid). Trying to regain their memory, the duo undertakes to find the ship’s core and return it to a stable condition. The door’s jammed leaving Bower battling claustrophobia whilst making his way through a ventilation shaft to the other side.
The adrenalin quickly picks up when he briefly comes across Nadia (Antje Traue) and is left to hide from a pack of human-like creatures on a hunt.
In time we meet other survivors like Manh (Cung Le), a foreigner on board for his agricultural expertise. How do we know? Each member has a tattoo on their forearm which indicates their position on the ship. There's also Gallo (Cam Gigandet), a crewman found by Quaid's character who easily churns out many questions and a crazed and hungry chef played by Eddie Rouse.
Filled with non-stop action, tension, strong performances and wonderful twists, “Pandorum” leads one down the path of physical as well as mental survival and easily goes down as the best science fiction horror since “Aliens.”
Destined to sit proudly within my DVD collection come home entertainment release time.
Unfortunately, whilst at Comic-Con this year, I didn’t have time to speak to Christian Alvart or co-star Antje Traue after Ben Foster and Cung Le due to time limitations.
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Comic-Con 2009 - 'Pandorum' interview with Ben Foster and Cung Le!