The film "Pandorum": reviews, plot, actors and roles

Space for filmmakers is a virtually inexhaustible source of inspiration. It has the scope to tell a story in any genre, unattainable horizons for directors and actors, the depth of meaning and philosophy, loved by scriptwriters. Such an opportunity for creative realization did not leave indifferent the director Christian Alvart and film playwright Travis Millow, who, having secured the support of the famous producer Paul U.S. Anderson, made the film "Pandorum." Reviews of the project are diverse, its IMDb rating: 6.80. The main roles of the picture are involved by B. Foster, D. Quaid, A. Traue and the athlete, and now actor Kung Le. The filming process took place in Berlin at the end of summer 2008. The world premiere of the tape took place in September 2009.

Paranoid Space Horror

The plot of the film “Pandorum” (2009) is rather gloomy and tragic. Planet Earth on the verge of destruction, the last attempt to save the human race is the launch of the colossal spaceship "Elysium", almost by Neil Blomkamp. On board the spacecraft is 60,000 people, it is heading to the planet Tanis. While everyone is in suspended animation, two soldiers suddenly wake up, discovering that the ship is turning into an ominous cemetery for its passengers. Many people, including crew members, were killed because mysterious monsters make a bloody feast on the ship. After it turns out that they are not the only ones awakened, several dozens more are hiding in the giant bowels of the spaceship. The worst thing is that these are the last representatives of human civilization in endless space.

Project creators

Creating a film “Through the Horizon” of Paul’s relationship Anderson with space did not end. He took the liberty of acting as a producer of the film “Pandorum”. If about Paul Anderson, absolutely, like about the actors Ben Foster and Denis Quaid, everyone has heard enough, then the choice of the director of the project surprised the majority. One of Christian Alvart’s first works, the tape “Antibodies” (2005), which was announced almost by the twin cults of “Seven,” turned out to be a boring psychological drama of unknown origin. After was the picture "Case No. 39" with Renee Zellweger in the title role. Therefore, critics, going to the pre-premiere screening, expressed fears that the director might develop a "conveyor syndrome." Fortunately, this did not happen. According to reviews, the film “Pandorum” (2009) is a piece of goods, correctly delivered, without excesses and with taste. Travis Millow's script is well-structured, structured, and unconventional.

Energetic horror

Reviews of the audience the film "Pandorum" is mostly praised. Although, many reviewers admit, honestly, that from the first frames everything becomes clear. However, as was clear in both Boyle's Pekle and Duncan Jones’s Moon 2112, the tapes were decent and honest.

The work of Christian Alvart is a tightly made sci-fi horror with bloodthirsty monsters in the spirit of not so much the "Event Horizon" as the "Abyss" of James Cameron. Only events do not develop under water, but in the dark corridors of the space station.

The action develops gradually, but from the first minutes of timing unobtrusively involving a picture looking into the atmosphere. The main characters, having regained consciousness, have little understanding, the viewer, like the characters, remains outside the knowledge. The authors present details such as amnesia, hinting that complete unknown is yet to come. Everything is complicated by the danger of a pandorum - a mental disorder that occurs in people due to a long stay in deep space. Some reviewers, not ignoring the spoiler, in the reviews of the film "Pandorum" note that the action begins to accelerate apparently after the hero Ben Foster enters the ventilation shaft. The creators toss up all the new details of space travel, which are frankly scary.

Not the roar of the spaceport ...

Director Christian Alvert, according to cinema experts expressed in reviews of the film “Pandorum”, follows absolutely all genre traditions, including action elements: the spaceship’s locations have a claustrophic effect, monsters are terribly agile and toothy. The director successfully maneuvers between different genres. Bright episodes of heroes' memories of childhood and family radically differ from skirmishes in the gloomy compartments of the ship. And not with the color scheme, brightness, but with the deep meaning, purity. It seems that they are taken from a completely different film. At the same time, scenes of memories are organically inserted into the narrative, emphasizing the contrast between the world of which will never be reality.

An attempt to reincarnate a forgotten genre

Naturally, the above plot cannot be called revolutionary and innovative. In the cinema, references to such films as “Hell”, “Prometheus”, “Alien”, “Black Hole” and “Through the Horizon” are constantly traced - films similar to “Pandorum” (2009). In the film of Christian Alvart, there are indeed elements of the listed masterpieces, but the general concept of the project remains original. This is aided by thriller elements, atmospheric scenery and the excellent work of cameraman Vedigo von Schulzendorff. In each chase episode, the main characters heed common sense and do not enter into an open confrontation with the superior forces of monsters. Short skirmishes really look cruel, and at the climax, the operator surpasses himself and gives out a series of truly incredible angles.

Cast

In the film “Pandorum” (2009), the actors and roles were selected by each other's types under the vigilant control of Paul Anderson himself. Casting paintings earned the highest praise from critics. Ben Foster (“Hostage”) in the image of an unbending corporal Nolan Bauer is afraid of what is happening no less than the audience, Dennis Quaid (“Legion”, “Cast Cobra” in the role of Payton periodically falls into a psychosis, Antje Traue (“Man of Steel”), reincarnated as Nadia is very similar to the character of Mila Yovochiv from Resident Evil.

The lack of pathos and moralizing is also a fat plus of the picture. Although the characters are not particularly up to heroism, there would be no way to survive crazy. And the plot, despite its linearity, sometimes throws such turns that I want to applaud while standing.

Caution spoiler!

Most of the time the characters of the tape roam the ship, they are afraid of the terrible, the mutants create indecency at several levels of the ship, in general - I want to go into suspended animation. But the final plot somersault will definitely surprise everyone. The ship, it turns out, has long reached the surface of the planet Tanis, just some are in no hurry to notify all crew members and passengers about it.

But in general, as the authors of the reviews emphasize, the film “Pandorum” fits perfectly into the current mainstream trend: progress has achieved unprecedented miracles, so it won’t be unambiguous anymore.