I ordered this one on Blu Ray with several other films I have been wanting to see. I just got around to watching it today. I thought the premise was interesting: a few hundred years into the furture the Earth becomes so overpopulated that humankind must expand outwards into space if it is to survive. Years of space exploration have found another earth-like planet. A massive ship is constructed that is carrying a cargo of 60,000 passengers in cyro sleep for the long 100 year journey to their new home. There are several "crews" and each is awake for a segment of the journey while their replacements, like the passengers, are slumbering in cyro sleep until it is time to be awakened to assume their "shift"
But something isn't quite right. One of the command crew is awakened, and later his commanding officer. These two men find, much to their shock and dismay, there doesn't seem to be any of the crew on board. Moreover, they seem to be cut off from the bridge, and don't really know where they are. As they begin to look for the other crew members they find that they aren't alone. There are some unwelcome guests on board, and they aren't there to make new friends.
I got sucked into this one by the trailer and seeing that Dennis Quaid was in one of the lead roles. The trailer seemed to suggest that this was an edgy sci-fi thriller. Unfortunately, while the premise of the film was interesting the storytelling left a lot to be desired Pandorum appears to have drawn some of its thematic inspiration from films such as Alien and Pitch Black. But later the movie abandons its early sublety and finesse and goes for the loud, cartoonish, in-your-face style that reminds me a lot of Resident Evil. So the "uninvited guests" are little more than charactitures. They sure as hell aren't scary, though at times I did find myself laughing at them (I am fairly certain that this isn't what director Christian Alvart was going for, or maybe he was).
The only thing I found scary in this film was that I threw away 108 minutes of my life watching it and there is no getting them back. The movie received a 7.0 user rating on IMDB, so I appear to be in the minority of folks who didn't care for this flick. If you like seeing actors running through a collection of set pieces being chased by funny looking monsters in the same vein of Resident Evil, then Pandorum is probably your cup of tea. For folks who like intelligent sci-fi and expect something of a thrill in their sci-fi thrillers...look elsewhere because you won't find those qualities here.
--Jerome
