"Pandorum"
Directed by: Christian Alvart
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue, Cung Le, Eddie Rouse, André Hennicke, Norman Reedus
Rated: R
On paper, "Pandorum" seems like a great idea. It looked to be a natural fit in the genre of "claustrophobia" films like "Alien" or even "The Hunt for Red October."
There's something inherently disturbing about being in a confined space when danger (or worse) is afoot. Add to that a good deal of flesh-eating zombies a la "Night of the Living Dead," and you've got the makings of a nice squirm-inducing piece of work.
Upon viewing "Pandorum," I was squirming, but for all of the wrong reasons.
Ridley Scott's 1979 "Alien" proved one didn't need a huge budget to induce a feeling of suffocation and terror. We saw precious little of the title creature, but what went unseen was even scarier than what was visible.
A good filmmaker knows how to build tension within the mind of the viewer. Director Christian Alvart misses the mark on that point. He attempts to use quick-action, brief moments of utter shock that can often work, but he's rather ham-fisted with his approach. Rather than inducing horror, this film simply brings on a sense of confusion.
The back story in "Pandorum" unfolds as the film progresses, and the opening scenes are the most effective as the confusion that befalls the main characters makes for a promising setup.
Astronauts Lt. Payton (Quaid) and Cpl. Bower (Foster) have a violent wake up from "hypersleep" and find they have lost large blocks of certain memories. They realize they are aboard a spaceship and know how to perform their jobs but they don't really know why they are aboard, where they are going or how long they have been asleep. Payton figures it's been six years. He is, of course, very wrong.
They are aboard the spaceship "Elysium." The name references Greek mythology - Elysium is a section of the underworld reserved as the final resting place of the virtuous and heroic. It's an apt name for the vessel, we realize, when the mission is revealed.
Earth's population has reached the choking point and Elysium's mission is to transport some 16,000 people to a distant planet that appears to be inhabitable.
Along the way, "pandorum," a psychosis invoked by hypersleep, breaks out. An astronaut named Gallo is one of the first to succumb to the syndrome, and he becomes a maniacal/messianic figure who takes over the ship. He banishes many of those on board to a holding area where they eventually evolve into flesh-hungry zombies, always a great gimmick in a horror film.
Bower spends the major part of the time crawling around the bowels of the darkened ship under the remote direction of Payton. At every turn, some poorly lit and confusing horror appears until finally Bower and the audience realize that Lieutenant Payton has his own dark secret. And the plight of Earth eventually comes to the fore, making Bower's mission all the more important.
In the end, we also see that it's some 800 years down the road, and the ship is not actually in space but has reached a destination of sorts.
Writing this review gave me a headache. Worse, I want to see "Pandorum" again just to make sure I didn't miss something that might make the whole affair a bit less muddled. It seemed like a good idea on paper, but it didn't translate well to the screen.
Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.
