For all the budget it clearly lacked and for all the press coverage it doesn’t seem to be getting, Pandorum is actually a damn fine example of a damn fine little genre movie. The set-up is simple, appropriately desperate, and fantastically tense; the characters are smart, reasonable, and determined; and the reveal/resolution is cool and (at least part of it is) frankly unexpected, but doesn’t feel cheap or contrived.

Pandorum owes a bit of precedence to Alien, a nod to Pitch Black, and a sly wink to Event Horizon*, but it’s definitely its own creation. If you dig survival horror science fiction, you should absolutely check this one out. No lie.