Pandorum

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Pandorum-1080P

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source: Pandorum

I just never know what to expect from horror / sci-fi films. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. I can't think of too many times where it didn't work. I guess there's Supernova, Doom, Virus, John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, and other films like that. But there's also the Alien movies, the first Species, Pitch Black, Event Horizon, and even the Resident Evil movies that hit the nail on the head. I would have to say Pandorum does a pretty decent job of hammering it down. Pandorum is loud, noisy, and has more gore than I think most "regular" moviegoers are probably used to. That being said, it also strives to be intelligent and arty. It's kind of a strange mix. It melds together elements of such films as Event Horizon, Alien, Resident Evil, and even The Poseidon Adventure. I mean, the whole film is about a guy trying to reach the reactor of the ship to turn it back on. Just imagine Gene Hackman (or Kurt Russell, if you've only seen the remake Poseidon) and company trying to get off the ship before it breaks apart...but they're being chased by cannibalistic monsters that seem to have superhuman strength and speed. The acting in the film for the most part is pretty decent. Dennis Quaid comes off kind of cheesy a few times and some of the dialogue for the other characters could have been spruced up a bit. There's really nothing to cry about, though. I was kind of excited to see that Norman Reedus (The Boondock Saints, Blade II, Deuces Wild, Gossip, Messengers 2: The Scarecrow) was in this, but was disappointed when his character gets dragged off a mere five minutes after he hits the screen. The special effects and cinematography were very stylistic. The scene of the "mutant" cannibal lair where they're all piled on each other and intertwined was reminiscent of the scene in Alien Resurrection where Ripley is lying with all the Aliens in their lair. Now imagine having to crawl through them covered in their skin to get to where you need to go. Yes, it is pretty nerve-wracking and disturbing. The ferocious way the "mutants" run, attack, and eat their prey is also a big visual highlight. You can tell that the writer of this film really did try to do something intelligent and new, while treading on some familiar ground. There's a pretty decent story lying under all the visual hocus-pocus and gore. I actually liked the end (one of them, at least), even though I could see it coming a mile away. I wanted to write that I didn't like it, but I just can't. It worked so well within the frame of the story. Is Pandorum a groundbreaking film? No. Is it going to shock genre fans and be the next big thing? No. Is it a good movie that entertains, but at the same time doesn't dumb anything down story wise for action and gore? Yes. Like I said earlier, your "normal" Friday night movie-going audience will probably find it more shocking and gory than us genre gore hounds. It was still a good watch.