Pandorum: Difference between revisions
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| producer = [[Paul W. S. Anderson]]<br />[[Jeremy Bolt]]<br />Robert Kulzer |
| producer = [[Paul W. S. Anderson]]<br />[[Jeremy Bolt]]<br />Robert Kulzer |
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| writer = Travis Milloy<br />Christian Alvart |
| writer = Travis Milloy<br />[[Christian Alvart]] |
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| starring = [[Dennis Quaid]]<br />[[Ben Foster (actor)|Ben Foster]] |
| starring = [[Dennis Quaid]]<br />[[Ben Foster (actor)|Ben Foster]] |
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| country = [[Cinema of Germany|Germany]]<br />[[Cinema of the United States|United States]] |
| country = [[Cinema of Germany|Germany]]<br />[[Cinema of the United States|United States]] |
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| language = English |
| language = English |
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| budget = US $40 million |
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| gross = $ |
| gross = $9,736,219 |
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Revision as of 23:06, 15 October 2009
| Pandorum | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Christian Alvart |
| Written by | Travis Milloy Christian Alvart |
| Produced by | Paul W. S. Anderson Jeremy Bolt Robert Kulzer |
| Starring | Dennis Quaid Ben Foster |
| Cinematography | Wedigo von Schultzendorff |
| Edited by | Philipp Stahl |
| Music by | Michl Britsch |
| Distributed by | Overture Films |
Release dates | September 25, 2009 (US) October 2, 2009 (UK)[1] |
Running time | 108 mins.[2] |
| Countries | Germany United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US $40 million |
| Box office | $9,736,219 |
Pandorum is a 2009 German/American science fiction/horror film written by Travis Milloy and directed by Christian Alvart. The film stars Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster. Filming began in Berlin in August 2008. Pandorum was released on September 25, 2009 in the United States,[3] and on October 2, 2009 in the UK.
Plot
Two astronauts, Bower and Payton, wake to find themselves drifting through space far from Earth and with no memory of who they are, what they are doing, or what has happened to the crew of their 60,000 passenger sleeper ship the Elysium. They are unable to access the ship's bridge, and cannot communicate with any other members of the crew, including the flight team they are to relieve.[4] While exploring the spacecraft under Payton's radio guidance, Bower encounters several other surviving crew members, and the astronauts start to learn that a terrible event has occurred on board which might have affected the survival of the entire human species.[5]
As Bower ventures deeper into the ship, he discovers other humans running from monsters that are former crew members endowed with genetic enhancements meant to help them adapt to their eventual new world, but which instead caused them to mutate to the spacecraft environment. They also learn that some crew members also suffer from a psychosis - a severe psychological condition called Pandorum - which can be brought about by being in deep-space for extended periods of time, and is triggered to an uncontrollable level by intense emotional trauma. Those afflicted with Pandorum experience severe paranoia, vivid hallucinations - and eventually homicidal rage.
Their mission is revealed to be one of desperation. Earth, suffering from massive overpopulation, dispatched the sleeper ship and its crew on a 120-year voyage to a new, Earth-like planet to create a settlement. To add even more weight to their mission, one of the survivors whom Payton discovers, Gallo, reveals to him that he was part of the flight crew that receives a message from Earth, stating that the planet had been destroyed and the people on board the ship are the last humans. At that moment, Gallo had snapped and succumbed to Pandorum, killing the other crew members with him. Since then, he has been playing God, exiling awakened crew members and passengers to the storage hold, which is where they began to mutate and adapt to the ship's environment. By now, most of the 60,000 person crew is either dead or mutated.
Knowing that their only hope of survival is to return power to the ship, Bower fights his way to the ship's reactor, and eventually restarts it. While moving through the passenger hypersleep storage area, he sees the pod for Payton's wife, and his memories now allow him to realize that Payton is not who he says he is. Payton is actually Gallo, for which this whole episode has only been part of his nearly millennium-long twisted game with the crew. The ship had in fact reached its destination centuries ago (around 800 years), landing in the ocean of the planet, but Gallo has prevented carrying through the main objective of the mission. Bower then fights with Payton/Gallo while simultaneously battling the symptoms of Pandorum, and during this he inadvertently causes a hull breach, allowing water to start pouring in, killing Payton/Gallo. Bower escapes with the last known survivor by ejecting his cryo bed from the ship. His actions lead the ship's computer to initiate an emergency evacuation, ejecting the rest of the people still hibernating and unmutated. The 1,213 remaining human survivors are then able to begin building their settlement, finally fulfilling their mission.
Cast
- Dennis Quaid as Lt. Payton
- Ben Foster as Corporal Bower
- Cam Gigandet as Gallo
- Antje Traue as Nadia
- Cung Le as Manh
- André Hennicke as Hunter Leader
- Norman Reedus as Shepard
- Wotan Wilke Möhring as Young Bower's Father
Production
Pandorum was announced in May 2008 with Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster in lead roles. Christian Alvart was attached to direct the film, based on a script by Travis Milloy. The film was financed by Constantin Film through a joint venture deal with subsidiary Impact Pictures.[6] The partnership helped fund the US$40 million production, as Constantin drew subsidies from Germany's Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (MBB) regional film fund, the German Federal Film Board (FFA), and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF). The German Federal Film Fund provided US$6 million to the production, the fund's second-largest 2008 payout, after US$7.5 million for Ninja Assassin.[7][8] Filming took place at Babelsberg Studios in Berlin in August 2008.[6][7]
Release
Summit Entertainment is handling foreign sales and presented Pandorum to buyers at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.[6] Due to Constantin's involvement, the film will likely see a strong German release. Overture Films will distribute Pandorum in North America, Icon in the United Kingdom and Australia, Svensk in Scandinavia, and Movie Eye in Japan. The film is set up as a possible franchise, so if it performs strongly, Impact Pictures will greenlight sequels.[7] However, due to the poor box office results, a sequel is unlikely.
The DVD and Blu-Ray release is on 22 December in the United States.[9]
Reception
The film has received generally negative reviews from critics, with a 28% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes.[10] The site's general consensus is that "while it might prove somewhat satisfying for devout sci-fi fans, Pandorum's bloated, derivative plot ultimately leaves it drifting in space".[10] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film holds a "generally unfavorable" score of 28 based on 13 reviews.[11] Science fiction magazine SFX was more positive, stating that "Pandorum is the finest interstellar horror in years.", and awarding the film 4 stars out of 5.[12] The film opened poorly at number 6 at the box office with $4,424,126.
References
- ^ Official UK and Ireland Film Website, Icon Film Distribution
- ^ http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/ClassifiedWorks/8EC74EB0656FEC5C802576390033C2CA
- ^ "Pandorum". ComingSoon.net. Coming Soon Media, L.P. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
- ^ Minireview: PANDORUM, Fangoria
- ^ Pandorum Synopsis & Summary, Moviefone
- ^ a b c McNary, Dave (May 8, 2008). "Quaid, Foster set for 'Pandorum'". Variety. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ a b c Roxborough, Scott (November 7, 2008). "Impact finds $40 mil to make 'Pandorum'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ Koehl, Christian (August 5, 2008). "'Pandorum' secures German funds". Variety. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ Enemy of the Horror Business #2: Can I get a Hand?
- ^ a b Pandorum at Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ "Pandorum". Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
- ^ http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=film_review_pandorum
External links
