Pandorum

This movie turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I'd rented it largely because my wife enjoys movies with monsters, and this one qualified.

The story begins with a couple of members of the crew of a spaceship unexpectedly awakening from long term hypersleep. The process causes them to have short term problems remembering things, though those problems fade in time. They quickly figure out that something must have gone wrong, as most of the power is off and the ship is populated by ultra fast/strong monsters that eat literally anything that moves. As the crew tries to restore power and figure out what happened, some surprises unfold. It's really best if you don't know more than that going in.

Some elements are fairly obvious, such as where the monsters came from, and I'd expected that most of the plot twists would turn out to be not-so-twisty, as usual. However, they truly surprised me several times. The first surprise, for example, was the presence of someone who was clearly a member of the crew, yet spoke no language in common with the awakened crewmen. I liked that they never really did explain him in the course of the story, as I figured it out for myself and there was no real reason for anyone to explain it that wouldn't have felt like obvious exposition. There are a few relatively minor logic problems with the story, and I started getting a little tired of the monsters' jerky movements after a while, but overall this was better-than-usual genre fare. I found two other movies on Netflix with the same director, and added them both to my list, which I think says it all. Recommended if you like science fiction and keep your expectations modest.