Pandorum

Reviewer: Jeffrey M. Anderson
Rating (out of 5): ***

The science fiction genre is basically defined as imaginary stories that employ science elements, such as traveling in time machines or discovering life on other planets. Yet the genre has often been used as a way to deliver weighty messages aboutthe wrong direction mankind is generally headed in. A great many successful and acclaimed science fiction movies such as these surfaced in 2009. Beloved examples like Star Trek, District 9 and Avatar, were merely war movies disguised as science fiction, with humans battling aliens rather than people of another culture. Yet, occasionally sci-fi films do come along that try to deal with things more mysterious than war; they're more interested in characters than in mankind.

German-born Christian Alvart makes his American directorial debut (his first film was the creepy serial killer film Antibodies) with Pandorum, and though it may not be the most brilliant example, it's still an intensely effective sci-fi chiller, mainly thanks to its canny set and sound design, and its constant, relentless sense of dread and tension. Oddly, it is yet another film with a message, but the message is so nicely hidden within the surprise turns of plot that there's never any preachy feeling.

It begins with a bang. A man named Bower (Ben Foster) suddenly awakens from a hibernation chamber, terrified. He has no memory of who he is, where he is or how he got there. He eventually determines that he's on a spaceship of some kind, but where it's headed or how long he's been there is a mystery.

Poking around, he finds an equally disoriented fellow traveler, Payton (Dennis Quaid). Together they decide that Bower, relying on his still-remembered training, will embark upon a dangerous mission to find the ship's reactor and reboot it. The ship's lights keep winking out, and the dark, metallic, claustrophobic corridors are a mass of confusing angles, complete with snaky tubes poking out everywhere. On his travels, he meets Nadia (Antje Traue) and Manh (Cung Le) who have been awake a good deal longer and have turned into fighters, living by their wits. It turns out that there are others aboard the ship, and they are not nearly as friendly.

Of course, all this is eventually explained, and the film does a nice job unveiling the twists one by one, even if -- admittedly -- few of them are very intelligent. No, Pandorum isn't exactly a spectacle that you'd want to pay extra to see in IMAX. Instead, it's one of those low-key B-level sci-fi movies that is probably better enjoyed at home, late at night, preferably in the dark.

Anchor Bay's DVD release comes with a commentary track by director Alvart and producer Jeremy Bolt. It also includes a behind-the-scenes featurette, a quick scene about "what happened to Nadia's team," and a training video, plus nearly 30 minutes of deleted and extended scenes, still galleries and trailers. The film is mastered in 2.35:1 widescreen.