“Pandorum” was supposed to launch a franchise but it flopped at the box-office and received mainly negative reviews from critics. However, I think it’s actually a rather entertaining sci-fi/horror flick. It’s clearly inspired by “Event Horizon”, “Alien” and “Sunshine” so it certainly appealed to my personal tastes.

In “Pandorum”, two crew members of a spaceship (Dennis Quaid “Enemy Mine”, Ben Foster “3:10 To Yuma”) wake up from stasis with their colleagues missing and their minds muddled. They try to restore energy to the ship so that they can figure out what has happened and soon discover that a dangerous lifeform is aboard.

Ben Foster does a pretty reasonable job as Bower. Dennis Quaid is very good as Payton. The two quickly split up with Payton trying to guide Bower on his journey across a truly colossal starship. Both actors do a good job showing the psychological stress of being trapped onboard the starship. The creatures are rather disturbing to look at. I think maybe we see too much of them early on as I would have saved all the clear shots of them until nearer the end. You have to remember that films such as the original “Alien” were very good at keeping the monsters hidden and that makes the experience even more suspenseful.

Some of the ideas in “Pandorum” are terrific and I really love the way that the film is able to make the ship seem absolutely massive. It’s full of narrow shafts and dark corridors, which would make anybody feel claustrophobic. The ending of the film is clever but at the same time, it feels a little rushed. Everything just ends rather abruptly and that is a shame. If you like movies such as the ones I mentioned as well as other including “Leviathan” and “Red Planet” then you should make sure you check out “Pandorum”.