The Smackdown
Ever since Alien showed the dark flip side of 2001: A Space Odyssey, filmgoers have been disabused in one movie after another of any thought that going where humans haven’t gone before can be a noble journey.
These two films — Pandorum and Event Horizon — do, however, take the position that noble or not, being in some parts of space is definitely not boring.
You won’t sleep through either one.
Cold, hostile, horrific space, set in the middle of this century — that’s our Smackdown…
The Challenger
When Pandorum starts with astronauts like Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster waking up unexpectedly from a deep sleep, you know (especially if you saw Alien) that no damn good can come from it. Before long, it’s a life-or-death struggle with hissing, flesh-eating CGI creations.
The Defending Champion
A dozen years ago, Event Horizon mixed sci-fi and horror in the story of a space ship on a rescue mission to save another ship that disappeared years ago somewhere near Neptune, which in space terms is shorthand for being so far away that nobody can come help you if things get weird. Of course, the crew finds the original lost spacecraft, and the games begin. In these space Olympics, minds are bent, reality is twisted, and the ship, it turns out, has literally been to hell and back. Hell, presumably, is well-past Neptune.
The Scorecard
Both of these films pilfer liberally from what has come before, from Solaris to Alien, lifting and separating with reckless abandon. Neither one of them won over the critics upon release, although Event Horizon seems to be picking up steam in Blu-ray release. Paul Anderson directs Event Horizon and produces on Pandorum, but in the annals of sci-fi, that only means he’s 0-2. Still, there is a propulsion of creepiness in Event Horizon where the left turn of leaving space for a literal hell actually feels freshly horrific. Pandorum feels muddled and floundering. While Event Horizon had Sam Neil and Laurence Fishburne acting up a space-storm, Pandorum locks Dennis Quaid into reading most of his dialogue over an intercom, saying things like “Bower, do you read me?”
The Decision
Life is short. Pandorum has nothing new to say until, basically, the end. It’s never clear where you are in the ship or what’s going on or what’s at stake. It’s a soft mess, while Event Horizon gives a go at saying that, out there in the void, there are some surprises in store. It’s not perfect, but it takes the Smack on points.
Personally, I found Event Horizon to be a crudely executed mash between Solaris and Disney’s The Black Hole but with gore. Pandorum effectively drew parallels between the concept of survival of fittest and religious concepts, as well as having social commentary on over-population. Google “Allegory of Pandorum” for details.
Event Horizon is creeper but Pandorum is more cerebral.
I actually find Pandorum to be more brillent and thought provoking than Event Horizon with the symbolism it had with it (google “Movie Analysis: Symbolism In Pandorum”)
Oh and I’m not trying to be a douche but Alien was a bigger budget reworking of It! The Terror From Space that came out in 1958…
I thought Event Horizon was the better one. For some reason, it was just creepier and went out with a bigger bang. Pandorum was still good, though.
And I know I’ll sound like a huge douche bag, but Event Horizon came out in 1997, not ’99.
In regards to pandorum i liked the plot twist and ive seen it again and when you know the twist its like seeing the movie + a little bit more.
In my opinion i thought that Pandorum was the better of the two. It may have had to do with the fact that i played the video game “Dead Space” which is like 60% like Pandorum. Except you dont wake up on the ship your the rescue crew trying to find out what happened. But anyway i think “Dead Space” is the best out of all 3
All of which may be true, Rodney, but then, you’d have to see Pandorum to understand the decision!!
I haven’t seen Pandorum, but I do know that I thought Event Horizon was a brilliant idea utterly squandered by cheap scares and lazy dialogue. The final third of the film is almost unwatchable by modern cinema standards, simply for plot “twists” that beggar belief and rely more on sci-fi cliche than inventive scripting. Sam Niell was dreadful. Laurence Fishburne should have known better, as should have almost the entire cast except Joely Richardson. She can be in any film and I’ll watch her.
I always thought Event Horizon was underrated. It is a profound, unsettling, entertaining, mind-boggling film. Thanks for giving it some love.