[Pandorum]
Plot:Two crewmen awaken from hyper-sleep aboard a spacecraft. None of their equipment is working, and their memories are incomplete. What was their mission? How much time has passed? Where are they? Who are they? As they try to piece things together, they discover they are not alone, and the ship's new inhabitants - tribal warriors carrying crudely made weapons - are moving among them, intent on killing all aboard. As the space travelers unravel the frightening and deadly secrets the ship harbors, they realize the survival of mankind hinges on their actions. They must regain control of the ship before PANDORUM takes over.

Cast: Cam Gigandet, Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Norman Reedus, Cung Le, Wotan Wilke Möhring, André Hennicke, Niels-Bruno Schmidt, Friederike Kempter, Antje Traue, Domenico D'Ambrosio, Asia Luna Mohmand, Jeff Burrell.

My Thoughts:Interesting viewing experience.

Review:"Pandorum" is Hollywood's latest attempt at space-set sci-fi horror. The movie is a cross-breed of sorts between "Alien", "Doom", "Event Horizon", and "Mad Max". The pic follows two crewmen who awaken from a chryogenic slumber. Upon awakening, they soon learn that they are not alone on the ship. The ship has been overrun by vicious and deadly mutant organisms, who do bare some human resemblences and traits. Now things spiral into a fight for survival, and the crewmen must find out what their attackers are, and how to stop them before Pandorum takes over.

Pandorum in this film is labeled as a form of mental psychosis, brought about by many different factors during space travel. But the movie doesn't really focus much on Pandorum itself until the final 20 minutes or so, beyond a few passing mentions here and there. Which is a smart move in this films case. The last thing we moviegoers shell out our cash for, is a 1 hour and 40 minute film explaining to us how space travel can make a person go cuckoo for cocoa puffs.

Instead, the movie quickly thrusts it's two main characters played by Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid, into a life or death battle of survival against the onslaught of deadly mutants, who were all once crew of the ship, but have been transformed into something else. Foster's character is really the one who does all the heavy lifting in this film, and this is really his movie as an actor. He's sent out by Quaid's character to fix the ships ails, but that trip and mission soon turns into a survivor/search and rescue as he runs into person after person who warn him of the lurking danger.

The danger which hides in the dark crevices and lurks around the dark corners of the ship, the mutant creatures. And Foster's characters mission isn't made much easier as almost every survivor he comes into contact with ends up getting slaughtered by the mutants, who give chase to Foster's character, who manages to escape with a few close calls. He does however find some help in the movie in the form of two crew members, a male and female, who are dressed for battle, and wielding weapons.

Which is where the film kicks into "Mad Max" mode, as the creatures, and the two crew members are both sporting black-spiked-apocalyptic-esque battle gear as they fight and chase each other around the ship. "Pandorum" manages to ratchet up the action and entertainment levels in many aspects when it utilizes the last two crew members very often and puts them in some awesome and gory fight scenes with the ships monstrous invaders.

This movie is full of surprise and shock moments where the mutants attack from the darkness, or from around a corner, and thus spawns a serious battle moment or two where most of the time, but not always, the human beings involved end up dead. The movie certainly manages to make these mutants a formidable opponent for the human characters. A point made brilliantly when during one scene, Foster's character, and the male and female crew members have to give their all in a concerted effort just to take down one of the nasty beasts. The creatures have a distinct look about them as well.

Their look can be compared to the Lurkers from "The Descent", but not too much. Only slightly. There are also comparisons in their appearance to thhe Reapers from "Blade II". Quaid gives a good performance in the movie also, but doesn't do much, and is pretty much relegated to barking orders from the room he was awoken from chryo-sleep in. But down the gut of act three, Quaid's character becomes a major player in the films finale, and is a key component to how things eventually conclude.

The final act though is a tad bit puzzling, and sometimes you find yourself getting a little lost in the dialogue, and really understanding how everything came to be when more is revealed about PANDORUM, and how it affects the thinking of those exposed to it. But overall, the movie delivers on the basic elements of entertainment value, action, gore, likeable characters, creepy moments, scary ass monsters, and some great battle scenes. "Pandorum" is a film that delivers the typical cinematic goods, but also gives you an intriguing and complex story to chew on as well.

Positives:A modestly complex story, likeable characters, great antagonists in the mutants, awesome fight scenes, great usage of the ship and it's dark corners and crevices to build tension and suspense, and a suitable amount of blood and gore.

Negatives:The final acts twists and revelations are somewhat choppy.

Overall:Three and a half out of four stars.





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