Dennis Quaid stars in this serviceable but unexciting sci-fi thriller in which he teams up with Ben Foster as a pair of astronauts who awake from hyper-sleep only to discover unexpected ‘guests’ aboard their spacecraft – an ark designed to ensure the future of mankind. Suffering from amnesia the pair must work together to restore power to the ship, but not every thing’s as it seems and dangers lurk round every corner…
Except that what lurks around every overly dark corner is invariably loud music or another awake but confused crew member and the film repeatedly confuses an inability to see much of what’s happening and sudden load noises and tension and atmosphere.
The plot is sadly predictable – apologies for being a spoilsport but I’d guessed most of the ‘big reveals’ before the film deigned to do the honours and the few I didn’t guess left me unmoved. Not for the first time I left the screening thinking the better story is in the events which follow the end of this film.
A subplot around Foster’s wife soon peters out into nothing, clearly meant to create some sense of personal drive, it felt like a massive waste of time and the discovery of a Ben Gunn-style character ends in the most obvious ‘put them in the pot’ climax ever committed to film. And no, telling you this isn’t a spoiler because the second he appears on screen you’ll be way ahead of the apparently bright characters in spotting what’s coming next.
Not as good as Moon this is a film which, while not awful, could easily have been so much better. Probably best seen as part of a group night out rather than as the main event.
Pandorum hits cinemas Friday 2nd October