"Pandorum" will be an unexpected and welcome surprise for both horror and sci-fi fans: a taut, creepy, action-filled ride that rations its plot developments to maximum effect. Said action takes place on a ship designed for long-term, deep-space travel, and the set designers have a field day, providing tight passages to spark a claustrophobic's worst nightmare, doors that slide open to reveal yawning chasms, and a sewage pit filled with decaying - well, let's not go there.
The story unfolds as a couple of crew members wake from hypersleep to find themselves suffering from memory loss, on a seemingly-abandoned spaceship - they have no idea who they are or what kind of mission they are on. Ben Foster ("X-Men"'s Angel, looking here like a young Owen Wilson), as Bower, is the first to emerge, and he becomes the audience's touchstone as he shakes off his confusion and tries to put the pieces together. Dennis Quaid ("Vantage Point") plays Payton, his equally befuddled commanding officer, and it's interesting to hear the interplay between them as Bower sets off to explore the ship, linked only by radio to Payton. As the interior of the ship is mapped through Bower's explorations the feel of the movie changes, from a two-character mystery to a survival yarn and then to a full-blown haunted-house thrill ride as dangling bodies, an insane crew member, and a race of alien invaders (or are they?) are discovered.
Bower and Payton both encounter other survivors, and their separate storylines develop as more of the ship's mission is revealed. It seems that Earth's population explosion has rendered the planet nearly uninhabitable, and their ship has been sent out to settle the nearest viable planet. Bower eventually determines that survival and mission success both depend on resetting the ship's reactor, and the deadline for doing so (they have about 40 minutes...it's lucky they woke up when they did!) rachets up the tension further as the small team of survivors race against the clock to reach the bowels of the ship while avoiding increasingly aggressive attackers. When they do arrive at the reactor, it is one of those classic sci-fi set pieces that "Galaxy Quest" spoofed so effectively: a towering contraption set in the middle of a cavernous room, reachable only by a rusty catwalk or a shaky ladder going up the side. To boot, the room is not exactly unoccupied. Will the team conquer all of the threats and hit "reset" in time??
There are other secrets revealed in the last twenty minutes of the film, including the truth of the status of the mission, the location of the ship, and the background of Quaid's character. The resolution feels a bit crowded with denoument, but each payoff works in light of the well-developed story setup. Ben Foster's performance grounds the action, and he has some well-played emotional moments that serve to remind the viewer of how much is really at stake. Overall, despite a few silly spots here and there, this is a thoroughly entertaining film that also manages to sneak in a message or two about ecology and the perils of tampering with nature. And one last note: it's good to finally see a sci-fi film where a dripping wall of water in the ship's interior is actually, possibly, justified by the plot, and not just put there for effect. Nicely done, folks.
