I feel similarly about 'Pandorum' as
I do about 'Event Horizon'; they're good concepts, and I love sci-fi,
but they just don't really work as movies. It's difficult to put my
finger on exactly what I think didn't work. Maybe it was that the
character reasoning often doesn't quite make sense, or that a lot of
the movie seems like pointless running around. Maybe it's that while
there was a fairly meaty background story to get into, we were never
really allowed to because of the relentless jump scares and running.
Maybe it was the essentially derivative plot (though to be fair it's
difficult to do make a satisfying sci-fi plot that hasn't sort of
been done somewhere else is one form or another - I have personal
experience of this). Whatever it is, the movie doesn't fully work -
but there were plenty of good points too.
The acting for one, which I thought
was fairly fantastic overall. The central cast certainly held up, and
honestly I think they deserved more attention from the cameras. The
sets were also fine, if nothing new. The waking from cryo scene was particularly good, and really made me feel confined. The rest of the film brings this feeling back several more times fairly effectively. The actual plot was something of
a hodgepodge of sci-fi tropes, but was a gripping enough mystery to
keep my attention.
The creature effects on the Morlocks
were eh, to be honest. I mean they were fine, but they weren't very
scary. Nothing in this film was, come to think of it, which could be
seen as a bit of a problem. The atmosphere was often nicely gripping
though, though the remorseless tension may tire viewers out rather
than keep them enthralled. The movie simply doesn't pause for air
often enough.
The final twist/s were quite nicely
done, though the actual ending came off as limp. I'd suggest watching
this if you're a big sci-fi fan, and a fan of this kind of
Alien-esque movie in particular. Otherwise don't bother. It was better than I thought it would be though, given the low scores it got elsewhere. Possibly an underrated movie.
Pandorum: 39.8