I post no spoilers in my reviews.
Im always up for a good space horror movie and this looked like it could be the next Event Horizon (which was great till the last 2 minutes ruined the rest of the movie with its shitty brainless ending) and it has Dennis Quaid so I was excited to see this movie. After seeing it I realized 2 things. #1 Its bascially stolen from four different movies Event Horizon, The Descent, Aliens and a dash of Sunshine. #2 Antje Traue is quite sexy. This is the first time Ive seen a movie from director Christian Alvart, he has done a few others Id not heard of like Antikorper so going by that title and fact 90% of the credits had German names Im guessing he is German also.
Direction: This was pretty much standard fare here for a horror movie in this day and age, which is a shame because it could have stood to have had some better shots and slower, more showcasing shots. My only real complaint was the action sequences, they were all filmed with that high speed frame rate, semi shaky camera and the lens was being whipped around so fast it was sometimes hard to tell exactly what was going on, I guess to hide shoddy special effects. Just ever since Saw this whole sped up and erratic camera style is becoming more popular for horror movies and I hate it because its cheap and doesnt enchance the movie any, its just fast and loud gimmick for kids with no attention span to keep them focused. Overall the direction wasnt bad persay but it was generic and sterile for this genre with no real unique feel to it and not what would have suited this film.
Acting: The acting was ok, it was pretty much what you would expect for a movie like this. Not much to say really here as no oscars will be handed out for this movie. Since this wasnt exactly a character piece the need for acting chops wasnt a neccestity. The ship itself was a character though and decently done so. I wished they had worked on it some more though instead of just making it a spaceship with flickering lights and designed to be the most uncomfortable place to live ever and given it more of a look and feel all its own. Some segements like the man covered in hypersleep goo crawling and screaming out of a vent lined with rubber hoses was very birthlike in its symbolism which comes into play at the end, I just wish it had more like that in it. Other than that the acting wasnt horrible but very much what youd expect from a movie like this.
Storyline: As I stated at the start the whole storyline is basically stolen from several other movies and really is in now way unique, its all very "Been there, done that" in its approach. There are several twists that I did not see coming but due to pacing and direction they didnt surprise me as much as they could have. If just little more work had been put into polishing the story and suprises it could have raised the movies bar up more. Despite obvious thievery it worked fairly well here and kept my mind interested in what was going on.
Effects: Well the sound was a problem for me, especially when it came to hearing them talk. A combination of loud background noises from the ship and the echoing effect added in to make it feel like a giant ship jumbled the dialouge quite alot and made it at important parts hard to understand exactly what was being said. The visual effects werent to bad, the ship itself being the biggest and most consistant effect took center stage. The outside shots of it were cool but again inside it could have used something to create more of a personal touch and not so much like a drifting tin can. Visually nothing stood out as bad but then again nothing stood out as being good either.
Overall: If you liked The Descent, Sunshine, Aliens and Event Horizon you would enjoy this as well since it borrows from their better points. Aside from a brief time towards the end it had my attention constantly and entertained me. This did exactly what it was meant to, distract you for 90 minutes and thats it. I wont be buying the dvd or really care if I see it again but it was worth seeing in a theater one time. At the end of the day this will fall into obscurity along with the hundreds of other space horror flicks and be forgotten within 6 months.
I give it 5 out of 10 stars.
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/pandorum/
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