PANDORUM

Overall Impression – While it doesn’t really tread any new territory, Pandorum boasts some genuinely creepy moments.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s your main character? – Bower.

What’s he trying to accomplish? – Professional: reactivate the ship’s power core so they can reach a new Earth.  Personal: find his wife. Private: fend off the effects of ‘pandorum’ and accept that they’re all that’s left of humanity.

Who’s trying to stop him? – The mutants, and to an extent, Payton.

What happens if he fails? – Everybody on the ship will die, as will the human race’s last chance for survival.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan – Bower awakens on a derelict ship adrift in deep space.  He brings another survivor out of hyper-sleep, (Payton) and they soon realize that they’re completely cut off from Earth, with no idea where they are or what happened to the ship.  They soon learn that if they don’t reactivate the ship’s power core, they’ll never reach the planet Titan.

Wanderer – Bower and Payton make a plan: Bower will move through the ship whilst Payton directs him to the core from a control room.  Whilst exploring the ship, Bower tries to figure out what happened, picks up an anti-riot gun, meets a couple of vicious survivors (Nadia and Manh), and soon learns that the ship is infested by terrifying humanoid mutants.

Warrior – Bower convinces Nadia and Manh to help him, and as a team they evade and fend off the mutants whilst heading for the core.  The stakes are upped as Bower realizes that the ship is essentially an ark, and that the future of Earth’s legacy is in his hands.  When they discover that Payton is behind everything, Bower must stop him in order to find a way off the ship.  All the while, Bower must combat the effects of ‘pandorum’.

Martyr – Bower is willing to crawl across a sea of mutants in order to reach the core, and is later again willing to sacrifice himself to stop Payton.

AND, IN THE END…

Why do architects of the future love designing terrifying space ships?  How about some carpet?  Even the odd recliner?  Obviously, the setting might be a little less scary if you took that approach, but isn’t that preferable to a setting that’s obviously trying to be scary?  In my mind it is.  In fact, it might’ve been creepier if Pandorum had been set on a plush ship that had decayed over the 900-odd years it was adrift.  Or not.  Anybody got any thoughts on this?  I personally find it hard to ignore a set that draws attention to itself in such a way, and so i start thinking of it as a set.  One horror flick’s setting that totally sucked me in was The Descent.  A cave’s a cave, and caves are creepy.  It’s hard for me to find holes in that.

ANYWAY.  There was a lot I loved about Pandorum.  I jumped, a lot, and the atmosphere was great at evoking panic and claustrophobia.  Even more noteworthy was the general feeling of abandon, for which the ORPHAN element is largely to thank.  Actually, this is one of the most extreme cases of movie orphaning that I’ve come across.  They’re adrift in deep space.  They’re the last of humanity (their home, Earth, has been destroyed).  They’re confused, and lost on a huge ship.  Bower has lost his wife.  The list goes on, and this orphan thread is continued and amplified throughout the duration of the film, which only makes Bower’s goals harder to achieve.  Pandorum might not be in theaters for very long, but I think it’s worth checking out to see that dynamic in action.

– Dan Pilditch