Pandorum is one of those rare films with the power to reach out and grab you. Not only is it a superbly executed thriller, it also features a hefty psychological component that is made powerful by the interjection of images and events. The filmmakers were not afraid of their script, and they let their imaginations run wild in the best of ways. Throw in a pair of fantastic performances from Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster, and you’ve got yourself one heck of a film.
The movie starts out with a feeling of claustrophobia as the camera is literally shoved into a two foot around container with Ben Foster’s character Bower. As Bower stirs and begins to thrash, the camera pans backwards, revealing the tube holding Bower to be a hyper-sleep chamber. And things only go downhill from there. The sense of claustrophobia pervades the entire film, with intense close ups of all involved characters, and is enhanced, rather than alleviated, when Bower begins to explore the ship proper. Quaid’s Peyton stays behind in the room both he and Bower awoke in to provide support. This ends up leaving Peyton completely alone in the room for the majority of the film, while Bower encounters friends and foes.
Peyton’s seclusion adds to the tension of the film, as Bower’s communications become sporadic and Peyton is left wondering what has happened to the only other person he knows on the ship. The moments the film spends with Peyton are filled tension, and Quaid nails every second of his performance, from the slight paranoia to full on hysterics. Quaid’s character is central to the movie for many reasons, most spoiler territory, but suffice it to say he is the pillar the story and film are based on.
Bower, on the other hand, is a far more active character showcasing some of the best qualities humanity has to offer. He is loyal and duty bound, and only wants to save every person on the ship by resetting the failing reactor core. That does not mean he is without his heroic moments, however, as his trip into the ship is fraught with danger. There are things haunting the halls of the Elysium that are not quite human, and the few humans he meets aren’t altogether friendly.
Very early in the movie the ship is revealed to have carried 60,000 people to a new, life sustaining planet. Something went wrong and that’s where the movie takes up. Bower and Peyton are both suffering from slight memory loss, among other things, as a result of prolonged hypersleep. What really sells their suffering are a series of repeating camera shots where the camera suddenly zooms in an arc around a character, giving an oddly distorted look to their head. This shot is usually accompanied by strange noises from around them to which the character is reacting.
These shots, combined with the skillful acting of Quaid and Foster, make the horror aspects of the film all the more terrifying, as even the characters are sometimes unsure of what is real or not. It gives the entire film a strange new meaning, and it is possible to read the events in many different ways. Another reason the horror works so well is the complete lack of the typical “scare tactics:” there are no sudden loud noises from nowhere; no slow scratchy bits of music leading up to a scare; nor is there really anyway to tell something is about to happen beyond a sense of palpable foreboding. And when the scares come, they are fast, dirty and gone, leaving both the audience and characters in shock.
This is also not a film that is afraid to reveal the source of the terror, nor to explain it. The explanation, combined with all we see of the creatures makes them all the more horrific. Suffice it to say, the film tells you exactly what you need and want to know, and then ceases to dwell on it. And that works, keeping the film moving at a brisk pace, while still leaving room for these characters to grow and thrive. The film is just under two hours long, but it certainly feels both longer and shorter. Longer due to the amount of information and such packed into the film, while shorter due to how well it grabs you and makes you forget you are watching a film.
Before I finish, I have to mention Antje Traue. She plays pretty much the only female character in the film, and she is fantastic. She is able to move with a savage grace, and has a presence on screen. For her first English language production, she is phenomenal. She is definitely an actress to watch.
Pros:
Fantastic story.
Well realized and well utilized spaceship setting.
Fantastic lighting
Powerful acting.
Cons:
The ship is revealed to be huge, but only a small part of it is inhabited, makes you wonder what the rest is for.
Overall Score: A
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