Director: Christian Alvart

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Antje Traue, Cung Le, Eddie Rouse, Cam Gigandet, Niels-Bruno Schmidt

Official website: http://www.pandorummovie.com/

When the first thinking men (okay, and women) walked the earth some two million years ago, they gathered themselves into tribes, formed alliances, and learnt some social skills along the way for the purpose of self-preservation. And they fought. Yes, they fought a hell of a lot, probably because then there was nothing else more exciting to do than clubbing an animal or some other guy except eat and procreating. We'd like to think we've moved past that phase now, but have we, really? Watching Pandorum, the general sentiment I get is we never will.

People have nuked their little planet. Lucky for them, before the earth became toast, some policy-makers had the good sense to launch a spacecraft loaded with thousands of humans and the essentials of their eco-system on a 120-year trip to establish life on the neighboring planet of Tanis. Noah's Ark version 2.0, bible not included. Since the journey's a long one, the humans are stored in cryonic hyper-sleep chambers to preserve them for the moment of reckoning.

Pandorum opens with two crew members on the spaceship Elysium who have awoken to find that they cannot recall who and where the rest of the crew is, and what they exactly has been going on. Lieutenant Payton (Dennis Quaid), instructs Corporal Bower (Ben Foster) to explore the ship and activate its main reactor so the Elysium can get moving on course again. On his venture, Bower encounters flesh-eating monsters that have mutated to the spacecraft environment, and who are well, out to polish off any human in their path. The nifty corporal also chances upon other members of the flight crew, scientist Nadia (Antje Traue), agriculturalist Manh (Cung Le), and Leland the cook (Eddie Rouse).

Together, they team up against the odds to reach the reactor, with Leland attempting to sabotage their every move. Meanwhile, Payton is afflicted with Pandorum, a psycho-somatic disorder brought on by drifting in space for too long a time period. His struggle with the severe hallucinations, paranoia and eventual homicidal rage jeopardize the ship's entire mission.

So here we have it, the theme of Man's evolutionary adaptation set onboard a futuristic jet plane. While Japanese slasher flick Battle Royale expounded the message of "it's every man for himself in a dog eat dog world," this sci-fi horror movie adopts the opposite stance that cooperation is imperative to achieve a higher aim. Bower and friends emerge tops at the end of the film (this isn't so much a spoiler as humans seem to always win in movies anyway) because they play to each person's strengths and overcome their innate selfishness while battling an enemy larger than all their inner demons combined.

While being a somewhat entertaining film to watch, Pandorum however does not add much depth to the sci-fi genre. For inventiveness, District 9 took a really great spin on xenophobia and inter-group conflict. In terms of space-age action, we've already got the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises. And for a religio-existentialist experience, L. Ron Hubbard's got that nailed, snagging even Tom Cruise and John Travolta in his sci-fi spawned sect.

The one novelty Pandorum offers is the element of horror, which director Christian Alvart brings out rather splendidly with his claustrophobic camera angles and darkness/light contrast. Watch this in a theater with a good sound system because the film's score can get chilling.

Fans of science fiction out for thrills can hop onto the Pandorum ride. Just remember to leave your bountiful expectations at the door.