#12 We just watched this on Netflix streaming. You should too!: Pandorum

The Film: Pandorum

I was really conflicted on whether or not to include this movie on our Netflix streaming list. But I was possessed by the fact that these were the kind of movie I grew up with. My tastes lean arthouse and fringe these days, but is was not always that way. Aliens, Terminator 1/2, Demolition Man, Time Cop Die Hard, Highlander, and Fortress were amongst the movies I watched the most because those are the movies my Dad watched/watches. (His first film on Netflix Streaming was allegedly Demolition Man, a film he owns.)

I’m not saying that these movies are bad, Terminator 2 and Aliens might be the best two action movies of all time and Fortress is a little gem that few people have experienced.

Why to watch it: It is a cool throw-back movie.

What do I mean by that? I’m not 100% sure. But it feels like a movie from the late-eighties/early-nineties. It is cheesy, poorly put together, not scary, but for some reason, kind of works. I literally have no idea why…

You might hate this movie. I didn’t.

Pay attention to this: Almost every line is exposition.

Exposition is literary technique. As in, to tell a story you have to allow the audience information. Often a lot of this information is information the characters would already know. So how do you explain this info to the audience without the diagloue sounding contrived? Well, the “new guy” approach is pretty popular.

Take Avatar for example, while the main character Jake (new guy) is having the Avatar universe explained to him, we’re able to gleam quite a bit. In Pandorum almost every single line is exposition. It is fascinating how this is possible. It is irritating to a person who knows it is going on, but whatever.

Watch this right now when you get home from work or school or whatever it is you’re doing….you should be watching this instead. And if you don’t have Netflix streaming….buy it. It costs the same as a shot and a beer at your local bar!