Pandorum: Critic Reviews

As always, Foster sells the hell out of his role but non-sci-fi fans may well themselves be driven mad long before the end.

According to the press notes, pandorum means "Orbital Dysfunctional Syndrome"; whatever that is, by the end of the movie I was convinced I had caught it.

Pandorum is less a story than a prolonged bout of paranoid hysterics, exuberantly played out on metal gangplanks and inside Stygian tunnels. As such, it works just fine.

Director Christian Alvart and screenwriter Travis Malloy must have seen Aliens in the cradle, for they've digested it with love and delivered smart thrills that will please more than genre fans.

Throughout, some obvious questions pop up immediately.

The sort of thing that makes you wish you were playing a video game instead.

Lazily derivative.

It's a tight, minimalist Alien-esque "something is loose and hunting people on our space ship" picture that is as claustrophobic as you'd expect, if not quite as paranoid as you might hope.

The long middle portion does get tedious, obvious and downright laughable, but sci-fi fans probably won't regret the experience.

Alvart's cynicism about the current state of mankind helps make futuristic Pandorum interesting, but what makes it fun is his evident enthusiasm and talent for exploring the conventions of sci-fi films.

A grizzled Quaid and an intense Foster do their best to keep straight faces, but this is not an effort likely to figure prominently on their resumes.

[Pandorum] might seem like a potentially cool movie, but unfortunately the key word is "potentially".

A gorgeous production design can't save the picture from trying too hard to dazzle with very little inspiration, and while Pandorum is easy to stare at, it can be a seriously punishing sit.

A little bit 'Eden Log,' a little bit 'Descent,' and a whole lot of 'Alien,' 'Pandorum' ultimately succeeds as a watchable sci-fi/horror/mystery.

a sci-fi scenario far less interested in exploring outer space than human interiors where the only 'aliens' are our own monstrous selves, just waiting to leap out of the atavistic shadows.

It's basically a zombie movie set-up on an industrial spaceship, a fast-moving B-movie that throws out lots of theories that don't stand up to the light of reason...

I liked this movie even more on the second viewing. The monsters were trivial, but the plot was intriguing. Granted you would have to be a hard-core sci-fi fan to like this. Paul Chambers, CNN.

Veering between alarmist adventure on other planets and assault on viewer senses here at home, the claustrophobic cinematic terrorism seems to come awfully close to wielding a movie as a deadly weapon up on the screen.

full review at Movies for the Masses

An unusually unpleasant and unwatchable sci-fi endeavor...

Clenches its teeth grimly as it blunders through its overstuffed plot.

too much of the film devolves into hectic action sequences that makes you feel like someone suddenly dropped you into a blender and turned out all the lights

Provides some very intense, memorable chills.

flirts with greatness with an impressive first half filled with thrills and solid pacing but it stumbles in its more action-oriented second half.