Pandorum

You know it’s true. There are certain films that you see only because one actor you like is in it. In fact, entire franchises have been built on less than that. Pandorum, for me, was one such film.

Anyone who saw the 2007 remake of 3:10 to Yuma knows that the most riveting performer in the movie was Ben Foster. His unflinchingly loyal Charlie Prince was a man of contradictions, and easily commanded the most interest. Foster has done well for himself, having graduated from Disney’s FlashForward and established himself as an intensely focused and talented actor, garnering praise from supporting roles in Alpha Dog, Hostage, X-Men 3, and his powerful lead in The Messenger. Thus, on a very chilly January evening I sat down to sate my anticipation of Foster’s forthcoming The Mechanic with Pandorum.

In fact, Foster is one of the first people we meet on the spaceship Elysium – we watch him rediscover himself and his world as he wakes up from hypersleep. As Corporal Bower, he seems to be the only one conscious and possibly the last one alive. Soon he is joined by Lieutenant Payton (Dennis Quaid), who resumes the command. Together, they determine that they are part of a flight team and that while they cannot recall their mission, it is up to Bower to restore power to the ship and enable navigation, and furthermore, their survival. Bower’s journey to the ship’s reactor aligns him with space ninjas (abandoned passengers who have learned to defend themselves) and pits him against cannibalistic Hunters (a humanoid species that feeds on the blood and flesh of other humans). Along the way, he discovers that Elysium was en route to a distant Earth-like planet when something went wrong. Bower must endure the danger and violence he encounters while trying to hold on to his sanity. The slightest shake or bloody nose may indicate the onset of ‘pandorum’ – a kind of insanity caused by severe psychological trauma and long periods of hypersleep. An astronaut giving in to pandorum will likely hallucinate, becoming paranoid and violent.

Invented by the filmmakers Travis Milloy and Christian Alvart, ‘pandorum’ is a fictional illness, the word itself combining the connotations of Pandora’s Box and the evil released into the world, and pandemonium, which certainly ensues. Now by and large, I do not like scary movies. I have seen very few of them, but one of them was a spelunking nightmare called The Descent. Whereas The Descent sets six women against subterranean humanoid creatures that have evolved to life in the underground caves, Pandorum is The Descent in space. Somewhere between the Crawlers of The Descent and the Reavers of Joss Whedon’s Firefly/Serenity series lie the Hunters of Pandorum. (Coincidentally, Ben Foster’s costar from FlashForward was the mechanic for Serenity – Jewel Staite.)

That being said, Production Designer Richard Bridgland has done a fantastic job with his futuristic reality. The ship’s design was likely influenced by pop culture’s icons of science fiction: from Star Trek to the original Star Wars, The Fifth Element to Apollo 13, Firefly and Serenity. A good spaceship will always strike a balance between being able to see the underlying mechanical elements and the advanced technology that develops as I write. The coolest and most unexpected piece of technology is featured for a moment in the first ten minutes of the film when Bower shaves with a laser-razor – of course, my personal fear of sharp objects usually makes scenes that involve shaving difficult to watch.

I had no problem watching Pandorum, though I found some of the savagery nauseating. Despite a fairly satisfying conclusion, Pandorum left me feeling rather “eh.” While dividing the major conflicts between Bower – who mainly fought the Hunters – and Payton – who struggled with pandorum – was an effective way to cover a lot of interesting concepts, I don’t think I ever fully invested in either of them. Cam Gigandet as fellow survivor Corporal Gallo was ill-used, nevermind the boring struggle among Gallo, Payton, and pandorum. Or maybe Payton’s struggle was less effective for being left to Quaid to tackle; I have to wonder if Foster wouldn’t have been more interesting in that role. Then again, I’m biased.