Pandorum on BluRay

January 19th saw a few releases, my decision to make was between Pandorum from Overture Films, Gamer and Che. There were a few others but nothing noteworthy, I must admit though I used to follow foreign releases more closely, but haven't lately. It's on my list of things to-do, I'm sure I've missed some greats lately. So, not exactly a big fan of Castro or Che, and with RunningMan (an Arnold classic) being released on BluRay soon, no need to buy a market researched Gamer. Pandorum was my pick.


Of all the other releases, Pandorum seemed to be the only unique title to hit shelves. Sure, there are elements of earlier classics, but with enough twists to make it their own. There were alot of noir films made in the 40's and 50's using amnesia as it's premise, and to a certain extent it's how Pandorum begins. Man wakes up, unaware, confined, panick stricken. Turns out this may be the natural reaction to prolonged sleep induced for space travel, according to this film.

Ben Foster plays the crew member we're first introduced to, and we follow him for the next few minutes as he gets his bearings, which is an elapsed montage which has an hour or so pass in the film. In those minutes, he overcomes the haze of the sleep chamber, finds clothing, a work station, has some brief memory flashes as his mind fires up, and then... another sleep chamber is triggered.

Dennis Quaid's our second character, he has an easier time since Bower(Foster) is there to help him through his first steps, talks him through not only in an attempt to bring Payton(Quaid) to his senses faster, but to see if he recalls any information that CorpBower hasn't. We've seen this process of awakening in other films, even in television series, but they manage to make quick work work of scene, while doing justice to role play aspect, and they quickly move to the next subject. What would space travellers really do in their situation?

Having found a work station, they attempt to perform their appointed tasks, but things aren't quite right, hull doors connecting their room to the bridge and ship both aren't working. So, let's say there's a perfect gameplan for how an interstellar flight should go, this plan has obviously hit a snag, what to do? Bower takes the initiative and decides to circumvent the doors via access shafts, with Payton as guide from the workstation. So now we have a bit of adventure, there's a bit of action thriller thrown in, and we're introduced to what I can only describe to you as the main threat to their survival, which adds a horror element.

This isn't your typical space travel story, although for the first time I find myself saying a film may have rushed a bit and this film should've been a two parter. Why? Well, given that they've introduced a few new topics to the sub-genre (deep sleep space exploration) I would've liked to have seen more time spent on the ship itself, it's systems, it's functionality. The films namesake, a space-sickness is explained well enough, another twist that makes the story unique.

I'd have to say that all-in-all Pandorum doesn't disappoint, there's enough questions raised about practical spacetravel to keep scifi fans happy and thinking, there's enough action suspense and terror to keep your attention, set design is excellent, costume design // makeup was great. Stunt work was very believable, and if harnesses were used to achieve the high rate of travel displayed by some of what I'll only refer to as threats, you couldn't tell. The acting was on point, didn't have any problem buying into the premise, or being made too aware that this a film I'm watching, and with Antje Traue as Nadia fans of cleavage will be very happy, sexy accent she has, too.

But I do feel that the ending seems very rushed. The state of the ship at the end is too perfect, the story doesn't completly resolve itself, too bright and shiny. While there are already whispers of sequel, the kind of sequel it may be might not be my thing. But Pandorum on it's own is great, I'm glad I bought it.

As far as features are concerned, I'm not sure BluRay gets more than DVD, other than HD signal which I like on flatscreen LCD. But $17.99 vs $27.99 usd, unless really like to see the sweat beading up on peoples faces, and every bit of texture on costumes and sets, I can't say that it warrents BluRay. They had the space to include much more, such as trailers, poster art, concept sketches and there is none of that. There are a few featurettes, some deleted scenes, commentary track with Alvert and Bolt, spanish dub, and nothing else. What really pisses me off, is the site providing information on the film has a gallery of stills and minigames, all things that could've been added to the BluRay, no problem. So while the film itself is great, the BluRay edition is not, may as well buy it on normal dvd.




Pandorum stars Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Can Gigandet, Cung Le, and Eddie Rouse, as well as Norman Reedus, Andre M. Hennicke, Friederike Kempter, Niels Bruno Schmidt with Marco Albrecht, Dawid Szatarski, Nico Marquardt.

Markus Haas stunt cooridinator, Michael Bornhutter fight choreographer, Matthias Gunther stunt rigging superviser, Angelika Honig choreographer.

Stefan Langel payton double, Oliver Juhrs bower double, Thomas Schubert gallo double, Kim Ruhnau nadia double, Alois Knapps manh double, Joshua Grothe hunter leader double, Nadia Hernandez child hunter double, Thomas Schubert shephard double.

Principal hunters were played by Lukas Johannes Aue, Romeo Schirmer, Dennis Dohmland, Kristopher Fuss, Alessija Lause, Josephine Muller, Bjoern Scheffler, Phillip Kohn, Mike Moller, Asuka Tovazzi, Stefan Frobel.

Directed by Christian Alvart

Exec Producer // Screenplay by Travis Milloy

Cinematography by Wedigo Von Schultzendorff

Set Design by Richard Bridgland

Costume Design by Ivana Milos