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STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED
5 Stars Classic
4 Stars Excellent
3 Stars Good
2 Stars Fair
1 Star Tragic

FILM DETAILS
Certificate
15
Cast
Dennis Quaid
Ben Foster
Cam Gigandet
Antje Traue.
Directors
Christian Alvart.
Screenwriters
Christian Alvart
Travis Milloy.
Running Time
108 minutes


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Pandorum (15)

Pandorum
Plot
Lieutenant Payton (Dennis Quaid) and Corporal Bower (Ben Foster) wake up from cryogenic suspension on an apparently deserted spaceship, with no memory of who they are, what their mission is or what the noises coming from the belly of the ship could be.

Review
Astronauts Payton (Dennis Quaid) and Bower (Ben Foster), serving on a space ark which is conveying the last Earth folks to a fresh new planet, come out of cryo-sleep suffering from partial amnesia. 

The ship is malfunctioning, and degenerate body-pierced mutant cannibals are running wild, so Bower takes a perilous journey through dark tunnels to fire up the reactors while Payton argues with a pessimist mystery man (Cam Gigandet) in the control room.

Pandorum is a hodge-podge of familiar sci-fi stuff, which feels as if it were adapted from a computer game – it’s a Paul W.S. Anderson production, directed by Christian Alvart (Case 39) – and spends so much time in the dark, with irritating jittery edits and indistinct action, that it barely flickers into life when all its mysteries are resolved. 

Verdict
Not much fun.


Reviewer: Kim Newman

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Your Reviews
Average user rating for Pandorum
Empire Star Rating

hmm...
Empire User Rating

...this sounds a bit like System Shock 2, doesn't it..? ... Read More

amerelium About me
03:06, 25 October 2009 | Report This Post

hmm...
Empire User Rating

...this sounds a bit like System Shock 2, doesn't it..? ... Read More

amerelium About me
03:06, 25 October 2009 | Report This Post

RE: pretty watchable

L: spamandham "Wasn't Dead Space a rip-off of Event Horizopn only ten times more derivative?" The DS storyline was considerably superior and better executed than EH. None of either of them was original though. sp; Really? ... Read More

kenada_woo About me
14:35, 21 October 2009 | Report This Post

RE: pretty watchable

"Wasn't Dead Space a rip-off of Event Horizopn only ten times more derivative?" The DS storyline was considerably superior and better executed than EH. None of either of them was original though. ... Read More

spamandham About me
14:00, 21 October 2009 | Report This Post

pretty watchable

Meh, wasn't that bad i thought; certainly worth another 'star' by emp standards. 67% ... Read More

spamandham About me
13:58, 21 October 2009 | Report This Post

Missed Potential...rum
Empire User Rating

2 out of 5? I don’t think it was quite that bad although probably only a 2.5 out of 5 if half marks were being dished out. It starts off reasonably well and the tension builds nicely. Ok so it’s a dead ringer for various other ‘I’m in space on big ship with a Xenomorph’ flicks but to be honest, to emulate greats such as Alien and Event Horizon isn’t so daft is it? I will say that I half expected Rimmer to appear and call Quaid a smeg head on more than on... Read More

moviesaccording2lard About me
19:18, 11 October 2009 | Report This Post

RE:

I rather enjoyed it. Sure, there wasn't anything that original but Foster and Quaid were good in their respective roles and I thought the whole production design was awesome, though that it porbalby looked that way as they were able to hide any flaws in the dark. The 'monsters' have been cited as simply being ripped off from The Descent, but you could call the whole film 'The Descent in Space' if you were feeling suitably lazy. Sure their origins were quickly glossed over but I thought th... Read More

Timon About me
18:52, 11 October 2009 | Report This Post

RE: Awful

L: kenada_woo L: Deviation L: kenada_woo L: mackey I don't think the sci-fi channel is the best place to judge the genre UTB.  As you say, the stuff they show on there is almost total drivel.  Unfortunately 'Pandorum' would not look out of place amongst it's programming.  It's a truly awful film which liberally 'borrows' ideas from several far better sci-fi/horror films and recycles them into a murky, mundane mess - gloomy lighting is no substitute for a... Read More

Deviation About me
00:51, 09 October 2009 | Report This Post

RE:

Wasn't Dead Space a rip-off of Event Horizopn only ten times more derivative? ... Read More

Deviation About me
00:48, 09 October 2009 | Report This Post

Empire User Rating

Nowhere near as bad as the review would suggest. Could be because it made me think of playing Dead Space loads though. ... Read More

HuwTJ About me
23:44, 08 October 2009 | Report This Post

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