Pandorum – The good outweighs the bad

Sometimes you watch a film and just so happen to like it so much that, even though you’re aware of the negative elements, you can happily choose to ignore them and just go with it.  Welcome to 'Pandorum.'

It’s about two astronauts who wake up aboard their giant spaceship, only to find things haven’t exactly gone according to plan.  And the plan?  Well... they can’t actually remember as – apparently – prolonged hypersleep gives you amnesia (I thought it just made you ‘a bit groggy’ if Ripley was anything to go by in 'Aliens?').  However, what they do know is that their – once habitable – spaceship is now chock full of flesh-eating monsters, so it’s fair to say that Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid are due for a really bad day.  Cue their quest to get from one side of the ship to the other to (a) access the bridge and (b) stop the ship from blowing up (as spaceships have a tendency to do right at the inopportune time).

Okay, so the plot probably hasn’t exactly blown you away with its originality, but, believe it or not, it’s pretty damn good.  It was never destined to be a blockbuster or to set the box office alight, mainly because it’s been made for a niche audience, i.e. those who enjoy sci-fi AND horror mixed together.  'Pandorum' borrows slightly from a multitude of films.  Of course ‘Alien’ has to be mentioned, as they’re both dark, extremely claustrophobic and see our helpless humans stalked by something much nastier.  But, more recently, 1997’s ‘Event Horizon’ has to be mentioned, due to it being about the biggest (and most recent – despite the twelve year gap between it and 'Pandorum') sci-fi/horror film to come before 'Pandorum.' Then there seems to be shades of ’28 Days Later’ somewhere in there.  Okay, so there aren’t any zombies (or ‘infected’ if you want the technical term), but the way 'Pandorum' is filmed (with a kind of gritty film-stock and shaky camerawork) seems to suggest that there’s a connection to the two.

So, if you liked 'Event Horizon, Alien,' or '28 Days Later,' you should enjoy 'Pandorum.' I certainly did.  And managed to overlook the slight annoyance of just how dark it was.  I don’t mean in tone (although the tone is pretty dark, too), but in the way it was shot.  Yes, I appreciate it’s set on a spaceship with little power, but sometimes (especially during action sequences), you may find it quite difficult to work out what you’re watching.  Gripe aside, I love this film anyway.  Apparently, it was meant to be the first part of a trilogy.  That probably won’t happen, but as a stand-alone movie it works pretty well, too.  If, like me, you're interested in seeing more of the story, there's a Facebook group dedicated to trying to get the sequels greenlit.  I joined!

A cult hit of the future.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one