Review: PANDORUM Was a Decent Sci-Fi Horror Film

I’ve been looking forward to seeing the new sci-fi horror film Pandorum. From the trailer and film clips we have seen it looked like it had all the right ingredients for a good time at the movies, and you know what? It was. This is a fun popcorn flick, with some really cool moments that most of you will enjoy.

My expectations for the movie weren’t terribly high, if you have seen the trailer, you know what you are getting yourself into. That being said, Pandorum doesn’t rank near any of the classic sci-fi horror films like Alien or Event Horizon, so don’t expect that. But it did offer a decently original storyline with an ending you wont expect. I didn’t see it coming anyway.



The film follows two crew members who come out of a deep hyper-sleep on their spacecraft. The craft seems to have been abandoned and is pitch black. As a side effect of the hyper-sleep, the characters are disoriented, can’t remember why they are there, who they are or what their mission is. The two decide to figure out what in the hell is going on. So Cpl. Bower (Ben Foster) ventures deep into the ship to investigate. It is on this mission that he begins to uncover a terrifying reality. Lt. Payton (Dennis Quaid) stays behind to guide Bower through a hand radio transmitter. They find that they are not alone, the ship is full of hundreds of monsters that are out on the prowl for food. The human passengers on the ship have to fight to survive, in the process uncovering/remembering the truth of how this terrifying madness began.



One of the best aspects of the movie was the acting. Ben Foster, Dennis Quaid, Antje Traue, and Cung Le were great in the movie. Even the secondary characters that pop up in the film that are barely in it do a great job.

The special effects were pretty good.  The movie was very dark most of the time so even if the monster make-up or effects were bad, you wouldn’t know. There were some nice little action sequences, but there were times when things are moving so fast, that it gets a little disorienting and annoying. I think they did this to save on the films budget.



I think all of the problems of this movie stem from the tight budget. It seemed like there was a very big story to be told in this movie, and I think thats how the script started out. Then they started hacking things out of the script to save on budget and time. The movie seemed pretty rushed most of the time, skimming through things that would seem pretty important to the story, especially at the end when things are getting wrapped up. The story is all over the place. It just seemed like the stuff that could have made the story make more sense was cut out. Or maybe they never wrote it in the first place.



In the end, I enjoyed the movie and had a fun time watching it, I think you will as well, which is why I am going to recommend it to you, even though it has some faults.

If you’ve seen the movie, please tell us what you thought!