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Shades of "Sunshine," here's another futuristic science fiction yarn with hope at its core.
"Pandorum" is a mental state that space travelers sometimes develop. And the question that's posed to viewers throughout this fast-paced story is: Which, if any, of these crew members is suffering from pandorum, which can involve violent tendencies and hallucinations?
An overpopulated planet Earth has dispatched a group of voyagers, presumably to a new planet. The ship is the Elysium, and its crew is waking up from a long sleep - at least some of them are regaining consciousness.
They're bewildered, afraid and unsure of their purpose. Cpl. Bowers (Ben Foster) realizes that he is part of some sort of mission, but he's not sure what it is. He and Lt. Payton (Dennis Quaid), the ship's captain, try to piece things together as they rediscover the ship and its controls.
When Bowers ventures forth, he finds himself trapped in a darkened tunnel, where cannibalistic aliens continue to hunt him. In fact, they set traps for him. More and more, Bowers comes to believe that he needs to get to the ship's reactor. That is, if he can stay alive while he dodges the hideous creatures he seems to encounter at every turn.
Bower and Payton aren't the only humans who have awakened aboard the ship. Bowers also meets the distrustful Nadia (Antje Traue) and a warrior (Cung Le) who cannot speak English. They realize that they must defend each other in order to survive their journey to the reactor.
Payton finds yet another human named Gallo whose jitteriness makes Payton uneasy. Could Gallo be suffering from pandorum? Gallo shows up covered in blood, but whose blood is it?
This is edge-of-your-seat fun. Yes, it's a bit of a stalk 'n' slash, but it's also a little of "Alien" and "The Descent," too. It's a nicely crafted mystery, too, because the audience is kept unaware of who really is a villain until the very end, which is quite satisfying.
All of the performers are very capable. They give their characters personalities that we can believe in and root for, with the help of succinct expository dialogue. Quaid stays in command even when he wonders whether he really can maintain control.
This is a good year for science fiction fans. Here's another movie that's well worth seeing on the big screen.
© Linda Cook'The Invention Of Lying' Los Angeles Premiere - Arrivals
'The Invention Of Lying' Los Angeles Premiere - Red Carpet
Imagine an alternate universe in which everyone always tells the truth. It would be paradise, right?
Wrong, says Ricky Gervais, who co-wrote, co-directed and stars in "The Invention of Lying." The truth is brutal, and the only thing that keeps us from demeaning all the imperfect people in our lives is altruistic dishonesty.
In the movie, the man who discovers deceit, a struggling screenwriter named Mark Bellison, gets rich, gets the girl and gets hailed as a prophet.
This topsy-turvy flick is fitfully funny, but more often it's just odd, like the first draft of a "Twilight Zone" episode that's missing its moral. It takes place in a drab world of forthright insults and bared feelings.
Blind date Anna (Jennifer Garner) greets Mark by saying he's too chubby to successfully seduce her; their waiter confesses he hates his job and just took a sip of Anna's margarita.
After Mark is rudely dismissed from an educational-film company, he becomes the beneficiary of a bank error. Soon he finds that he can multiply his money, win back his job and seduce women by saying "things that aren't."
Yet we're supposed to regard Mark as a hero. He feigns compassion for a suicidal neighbor (Jonah Hill) and comforts his dying mother (Fionnula Flanagan) with a vision of "a man in the sky" who will welcome her with open arms.
As word spreads about this newly discovered God, Mark is hailed as His messenger, and marriage-minded Anna is torn between the prophet and a rival screenwriter with superior genes (Rob Lowe).
Ruefully smiling behind his trademark protective shell, Gervais makes it hard to sift through the mixed messages. On the one hand, he's dared to direct a mainstream movie asserting that God is a convenient fiction. In the other hand he's clutching a valentine, hoping we'll forgive and forget.
"The Invention of Lying" is an ambitious attempt to smash the wedding cake and eat it, too; but to say it succeeds would be stretching the truth.
© Joe WilliamsCinema Trax © 2008 Business Ads Ready is Designed by Ipiet Supported by Tadpole's Notez