German production, American actors (mostly). Damn fine film. For my money, the best science fiction film of the year. Yes, better than Section 9 in my opinion, though I am not trying to set up a competition between the two in this thread. Having said that, I would call Pandorum the best science fiction film of the decade.
For me, this movie had it all: interesting plot and characters, plenty of suspense but also lots of action, slowly-explained mysteries to keep you guessing, strong horror elements, and some great set designs.
I suppose I should add a short (and spoiler-free) synopsis: the characters awaken aboard an interstellar vessel. The suspended animation has caused them some temporary memory loss, which creates problems and adds to the confusion of the characters. Even through this confusion it becomes clear very quickly that something has gone horribly, horribly wrong on this ship.
I saw it and thought it was OK. I’m never a fan of the OMG-SUDDEN-LOUDNOISE-AND-VAGUE-FLASH-OF-SOMETHING-VAGUELY-INDISTINGUISHABLE!!!11 genre of lame horror films, though. I thought they could have done a lot more with the memory-loss theme and conflict between the civilians and crew on the ship.
I also thought it was totally obvious that
The crazy lieutenant and the other crazy dude with him were the same dude.
friedo, I couldn’t disagree more. This is not the typical loud-noise, jump-out-and-startle-the-audience Hollywood fare. Really a disservice to people who haven’t seen the film to describe it that way. This film invites viewers to use their brain cells and think about what has gone wrong on the ship. It is not a passive shut-down-your-brain-and-wait-for-the-scare picture. (It is a horror film, though. Prospective viewers should make no mistake about that.)
One addendum to the OP: I forgot about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as a science fiction film. That probably gets best-of-the-decade honors. But Pandorum is the best sci-fi horror film by far in my book.
It was alright, but nothing special. I was expecting more but it seemed to just go for the cheap horror scares rather than anything that deep. The explanation for the monsters made no sense and the “twist” that **friedo **mentioned was obvious the moment it began.
You mean very few film critics. I remember very well how Blade Runner got ripped apart by critics when it debuted. John Carpenter’s The Thing also got roundly panned. Which only proves that film critics are idiots when it comes to science fiction. I am content to let history judge those critics.
Meanwhile over at IMDb, Pandorum is currently getting a 7.3 rating from viewers.
I usually go by the “Users” (not “Critics”) section of Yahoo Movies. Pandorum gets a B+ from them, a very respectable rating. This is completely at odds with a co-worker who said it was one of the worst movies he’s seen. I guess YMMV.
I liked it. I was scratching my head at the end, not being able to totally understand everything that happened- but hey in my mind that’s what makes an SF movie great.
Darn, I try, try, and try, and still can’t figure out how to do the Spoiler thing (everyone else seems to figure it out, I’m pretty technologically stupid) so I can’t really comment further. :mad:
I liked it, though I was scratching my head at the end because I had a hard time understanding everything (reminiscent of this year’s “Moon” as well).
Although about 1200 of the Earthlings made it alive to Tanis’ surface, all their supplies and the “Noah’s Ark” of Earth animal life was presumably still trapped underwater in the ship. I guess the humans would have to really use their brains to survive on the new world.
:smack: I am so sorry for the blatant spoiler in my previous thread! I have tried, tried, and tried, and still can’t figure out how to do the hidden spoiler thing. Everyone else on Straight Dope seems to do it with ease, so maybe I’m just stupid.
well I thought it was OK, not great,as an action/horror movie, as scifi, not so much. It had a real video game feel to me as well, start with no memory and no weapons and work your way up. I was surprised to find out it wasn’t based on one. YMMV
Part of what made the film interesting to me was thinking about what happens next. What will they do now? Will they re-enter the ship to retrieve their “Noah’s Ark”? If not, most or maybe all of them may starve. Will any of the creatures in the ship escape?
