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Initially, I was intrigued by Pandorum for only one reason: Dennis Quaid. There is something about Dennis Quaid that I love. It could be his acting style. It could also be his choice of roles. Hell, it could even be just because he was born in Texas and owns a ranch in my own state of Montana. All of these are valid reasons to enjoy watching Quaid on their own, but combined they make him one of my all-time favorite actors to watch. The Rookie, Frequency, Wyatt Earp, The Right Stuff, Cold Creek Manor, The Alamo, Switchback and Enemy Mine are just some of the movies that if I happen across them while surfing the channels, I will linger a while (if not until the end of the film) because of him. Now, another film joins this list, and that is Pandorum.

Before I go any further, I have to confess that I am a horror-movie junkie. Even more so than other genres (it's true, I love movies of all kinds), I seem to gravitate to horror films, especially those crossing over into science fiction and fantasy. Not so much the slasher films...although even some of those have their merits, but the ones that delve as much into psychology as physiological terror. I make no excuses - Like Popeye, I am what I am.

Now, to Pandorum: When I happened across this movie late one week-day night (relevant to understand that I should have been sleeping), it was more than half-over. I watched it to the end, and then sought it out "On Demand," and started from the beginning...only reluctantly turning it off when I reached the point where I had started at earlier. I did, after all, have to go to work the next morning. It was close to 3am. The full impact of the brilliance of this film, and the depth of the story, did not really set in until the next day when I watched it again.
Wow.

Pandorum succeeds where movies like Event Horizon, Deep Rising, Virus and the Alien vs. Predator line fall short (some shorter than others). Pandorum, like the tragic figure of the first woman in Greek mythology that inspired the name, seems to represent the unleashing of all evil known to man. Of course, in the back-story to the events that unfold, man has done a good job of unleashing evil on himself. Without revealing too much, I offer the following short summation:

***Spoiler Alert***


A spaceship en route to what will (hopefully) become a new planet for man to subjugate and exploit (a rational inevitability if we are to believe the timeline given at the movie's onset), with three-man flight-teams that rotate duty periods while the five-thousand-member crew slumbers in something akin to deep cryogenic hibernation. The trip is supposed to take eight years, but something goes wrong. When our protagonist (played masterfully by Ben Foster) awakes, he finds himself alone and disoriented, having huge gaps in his memory as a result of the hibernation process (over time, he will regain access to the lost corners of his mind, and we get to go along for the ride). Enter Mr. Quaid, who also awakens with huge gaps of memory missing, a ranking officer who sends Foster's character on a quest to save the ship, and oh, the things he will encounter along the way.

I won't go into any greater detail than this - most of which you will learn in the first ten minutes of the movie. Suffice to say, there are damsels and monsters; allies and enemies, along with chills, spills and thrills galore. Dennis Quaid is masterful in his role, and Foster (whom I loved for his creepy portrayal of a vampire's assistant in 30 Days of Night - another film to check out when you have time) is also extremely convincing.

I will, however, leave you with this thought: Imagine that you wake up on a spaceship hurtling through the void. You cannot remember much about who you are or why you are here, food is scarce (if not impossible to find), and to top things off, something at home in the dark is hunting you. If you can grasp that feeling of icy terror that sends the slightest shiver down your spine, this is what Pandorum holds for you. Enjoy.
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