701Panduan

Editor's Review

I don't like watching movies like this. Let me qualify that. I don't like watching movies like this in freezing cold cinemas, because then I'll need to take a bathroom break and that would mean missing out on some important development.

Sure enough, that happened while I was watching Pandorum, thereby ensuring a second trip to the cinema, or at least rushing to get the DVD when it comes out.

Why? Simply because it's that well crafted as mysteries and survival-horror yarns go, dropping tantalizing morsels of information along the way.

It's fun trying to piece together the mystery while alternately jumping out of your seat and cringing in it, and the characters' predicament is sufficiently high-stakes that you'll find yourself well invested in it.

The tale takes place almost entirely in the confines of a spaceship, the Elysium, which is kind of an ark carrying thousands of colonists to the promised land, a rare planet capable of sustaining human life. (No spoiler here; that much is obvious from the opening.)

Two men (Foster and Quaid) are suddenly awakened from suspended animation. It seems they're members of the flight crew, but something is not quite right. The ship seems deserted, but it soon becomes frighteningly apparent that there are others around - people and things.

The enigma surrounding the Elysium unfolds through the eyes of both, after they get separated while trying to figure it out.

It's a cleverly concocted tale, atmospheric and smart without getting smart-alecky. The story unfolds on two levels - the real as well as the imagined - with the title referring to a kind of space-faring stir-crazy condition that sets in when starship crews are cooped up for too long on deep-space missions.

The madness becomes more apparent as the film races to its white-knuckle climax, though just who is nuts and who is on the level can be a bit tricky to figure out - more power to the movie then.

Director Alvart is to be praised for getting so much out of the same old bowels-of-a-spaceship setting that has become all too familiar since Alien without resorting to wacky camera angles or showy technique. He just concentrates on deftly juggling the suspense, terror and action, dragging the viewer along as a disturbed but eager passenger.

Just a couple of things got in the way of geeky bliss. First, the cuts - why trim to a PG-13 when this should have been left as an 18PL or SG? Secondly, the creatures just look unoriginal and too I Am Legend-ary to live up to the story. No matter what the cause - drug, virus, sinister alien scheme, radiation - it's clear by now that human mutation in science fiction and fantasy needs to evolve fast or be rendered ... dull.

Still, these quibbles pale alongside the fizzy cocktail of blood, guts (both literal and figurative) and non-stop excitement that Alvart and Co. have served up.

Clearly a movie to be watched and enjoyed, from a filmmaker to watch out for.

Source:The Star