Netflix Instant Pick of the Week: Pandorum

Apr 26, 2011 by Kelly    2 Comments    Posted under: Netflix Instant Pick of the Week

I had to admit that Pandorum (2009) is something on the Netflix instant queue that I had never heard of but intrigued me, mostly because of the creepy cover. And it is certainly creepy, and slightly gory, though nothing that those accustom to alien monster movies can’t handle. (But I admit that I did have to wait until my husband got home to finish it, which is why this Instant Pick of the Week was later than planned.) And though it does seem to be a creature feature (think a less gory version of Event Horizon [1997]), there is actually something more sinister going on: Pandorum is a disease with odd symptoms that hits you when in deep space for too long. The particulars of a previous space mission gone awry because of pandorum is one of the first things that Payton (Dennis Quaid) and Bower (Ben Foster) remember when they wake from hyper-sleep with the usual side effects: you remember most of your life but there’s a gap in your memory just before your mission. Those memories come later. So they have no idea why they’re in the middle of space with thousands of people (seemingly still in hyper-sleep), how much time has passed or what exactly has gone wrong.

Overall, it turns out to be a fairly descent storyline and there’s definitely an unexpected ending that won’t disappoint. You may get to one startling realization and think “Eh, that wasn’t so great” but when you get to the real surprise, you will be caught off-guard, though I won’t ruin it for you. You’ll know it when you see it.

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