Pandorum
Entry updated 14 December 2017. Tagged: Film.
Film (2009). Constantin Film/Impact Pictures. Produced by Paul W S Anderson, Jeremy Bolt, Robert Kulzer, directed by Christian Alvart. Written by Travis Milloy, based on a story by Alvart and Milloy. Cast includes Ben Foster, Dennis Quaid and Antje Traue. 103 minutes. Colour.
An unremarkable but effective entry into the canon of "monster in a tin can" space Horror films, as exemplified by Alien (1979). Bower (Foster) and Payton (Quaid), flight crew of the Elysium, wake from Suspended Animation to find their colony Starship malfunctioning and seemingly deserted. Inevitably they are not alone. Alvart's film is stylistically similar to those directed by producer Anderson and the setting is reminiscent of his Event Horizon (1997). However, Pandorum is more successful than much of Anderson's later work and, whilst the thrills and frights – things that go bump in the night, racing against the clock, shocking character revelations – are standard, the science-fictional framing narrative is more compelling than is typical. [ML]
see also: Cinema; Colonization of Other Worlds; Devolution; Space Flight.
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