Lifepod - O 9º Passageiro

The story is rather formula: take a bunch of different people and lock them up somewhere, put them in some sort of danger and see what happens (for instance: Night of the living dead, Das Boot, Pitch Black). Nothing new here. But the story unfolds rather nicely, with a neat twist towards the end. The acting is quite good and the atmosphere is tense, dense and thrilling. Major dissapointment are the special f/x, which look like the remains from a 50's cheap sci-fil flick. They add a touch of uncredibility to the all thing. Another letdown is the obligatory happy ending, which seems very out of place here. All in all this is a pretty good movie, which could (and should) have been much better - technically speaking.

Ever heard of Alfred Hitchcock´s Lifeboat from 1944? This is the same story only in space. It all begins with a sabotage on big passenger spaceship. It blows up and there are only like 10 survivors who luckily (?) got on the lifepod. And there more trouble begins. They are not able to contact the "starfleet" so they have no one to rescue them. But the most terrifying thing is that they find out that the person who sabotage the passenger ship is someone of them on the lifepod. But who is it? Very thrilling, guaranteed to make you sweat a whole lot. The grade: 9/10

Eight people on a survival pod. They bicker. Supplies run low. They bicker some more. They're overly dramatic. Poor script. Bad acting. The end. There are two types of sci-fi B movies: it's so bad it good and it's just bad. This one is the later.

I just watched this last night, which was just a few days after I saw the original Hitchcock film that it was based on, called Lifeboat. I wanted to see this movie because I was pretty impressed by the original film, and I almost always enjoy sci-fi movies. After having watched Lifepod, though, I'd suggest sticking to the original. It's not that Lifepod is all that bad, but it really isn't all that good, either. Overall, I gave it 5/10 stars because that's about what it deserves. There are plenty of films that are worse, and plenty that are better. Lifepod does some things well, and it does some things poorly.

For what it's worth, I wasn't surprised by anything that happened in the movie, but you may be. I guess it all depends on if you are able to pick up on the clues. You'll know right off if you can.

Honestly, I'm not sure this really should count as a remake. It's more like a new film based on the same material. Everything that the Hitchcock movie did well, this one either didn't do at all, or it did it very poorly. On the other hand, Lifeboat didn't rely on lots of action or highly tense scenes, but Lifepod did. I guess what this means is that if you liked Lifeboat, you probably wouldn't like Lifepod. And vice-versa.

One last thing, neither film is appropriate for the younger kids. They would be bored with Lifeboat, and they would be spooked by the violence and tension in Lifepod.

This futuristic adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock's classic Lifeboat packs intense action and thrilling suspense into a human drama of courage and heroism. Lifepod features a top-notch cast including Academy Award nominee Robert Loggia and Emmy nominee Ron Silver in the dual roak of star and director. Alone Lifepod drifts helplessly through space light years from the nearest support station. With scarce food water oxygen and communications, nine survivors on this ill-equipped spacecraft fight for their lives. Deadly meteors and asteroids threaten from outside, but the real enemy will come from within. In the dangerously damaged confines of the lifepod, it's come down to survival of the fittest. Supplies are dwindeling, tensions are mounting, and people are dying. Suspicions grow that one of them is responsible for their disastrous predicament. Trapped with a killer, a new battle for survival begins.