The Pandora Project (1998) User Reviews

So, where's Jack Ryan ...

[usirsclt · 3/10 · 16 March 2002]

In watching, I should say wasting, my time with this film, I couldn't help but notice at least 4 scenes in the movie which were in "Clear & Present Danger".

The scene with the Columbia mansion, the blowing up of the airplane in the hanger, the view of the Capital in Washington DC and scenes of the Columbia jungle were all in "Clear and Present Danger".

Don't waste your time with this turkey ...

For the TV version playing on WB18, pro's and con's, worth a look.

[spoken · 5/10 · 27 September 2005]

Due to the character limit I'll toss good grammar to the wind and just do some run-on listing.

Pro's: possibly *zero* gratuitous swearing, pockets of appropriate orchestral music, some beautiful aerial photography and ground scenery, some experienced acting, a few nods/tributes paid to other movies including a funny Clint Eastwood-ish scene, no young-and-cookie-cutter actors, good/believable explosions, some pretty good "energy bomb" effects, excellent voice track, especially compared to some other B-movies, and the credits show *two* fire safety advisors, an excellent thing. Unfortunately, the credits got cut off to start a Pokecrap cartoon.

Con's: movie can't hold my attention for long spurts, something about Baldwin's hair is very bad, some amateurish and over-cooked acting, a guy gets shot on left and spins to the right, another guy gets shot on left and falls backward, straight to the floor like a stiff board that got hit dead-center, some unnecessary "Old West" guitar-twangin' and some attempts at humor that seem badly written and/or poorly acted.

Lousy action film

[LeroyBrown-2 · 2/10 · 30 January 2005]

This is a lousy action film that at least confirm two things. First Erika Eleniak deserves to be in better movies and that the Baldwin brothers should be banned from Hollywood. Daniel Baldwin, I Think (I don't know and I don't care frankly), plays the hero and from the first scene you know that he knows he's gonna win. He's too confident and too impressed with himself. I don't know if this is a spoof or what? Hell even Steven Seagal gave a better performance in "Under Siege". Baldwin never look like he's in peril. I almost kicked the TV set in after he came up in that Eastwood get up. As for the action sequences they were laughably bad and shot in the most amateurish way. How come those current Hong Kong directors can come up with great action sequences and they have smaller budgets than this. As for Erika Eleniak she played her part straight and for the most part it worked, she is a good actress whose career was ruined by being a playboy playmate.

This movie is just not good

[Reynard-2 · 2/10 · 19 February 1999]

The plot is hackneyed and I believe that some of the footage was actually taken from Top Gun and Patriot Games. This is just a BAD movie, which is a pity because Baldwin has done some quality stuff in the past, and Eleniak is actually a good actress. However, it seems that both need to do projects like this to pay their mortgages.

Baldwin must have too many large bills

[leo-96 · 5 August 1999]

Ok, ok, I know. Still, after HLOTS, Trees Lounge and Vampires; if I see one he's in, I take a peek. He's the only Baldwin brother who can truly act, when he has the script *or*, as I see here, when he has enough direction keeping him from just walking through a movie he obviously made just to pay bills. The poor acting by all involved was painful to watch.

Not that there's much to do in this one here, the plot is lame, unexciting and predictable and the filming routine and uninspired.

After someone once adamantly told me, that for a screenwriter to be read at all means a break of luck, to be produced is like winning the state lottery and how much horrid, amateur scripts are out there through which producers have to wade, well after that I keep wondering just how duds like this one sneak past. Because this *is* a bad story, a bad plot, a bad film, an entire waste of people's time -- where did they get the money for it?

My high school students write better.

Waste of your valuable life-time

[Penguin-26 · 1/10 · 23 May 1999]

This movie is probably one of the worst action movies I've ever seen. The plot (if there is one) is the same as in all simple action movies. That's not too bad really. However, they managed to make it even worse. Seeing an overweight guy walking in the middle of nowhere pretending he's a super marine is terrible. The special effects are a disaster... Eye candy consists of the occasional bright flash (*duh*). The stupid girl-gets-caught-by-enemy; guy-frees-girl; guy-kills-enemy routine is mind-numbingly dull. In short: I wouldn't recommend this movie even to my arch-enemy.

Just a Plain Crappy Flick ...

[petersundlin · 1/10 · 4 December 2009]

A silly movie. Thirty minutes into the movie the B-actor Daniel Baldwin borrows an old car with a platform somewhere in Latin America, and after three minutes the engine starts hacking. Daniel Baldwin plays a top CIA agent, but he tries to solve the problem by radically shake the steering wheel. Suddenly the engine stopped, of course, and Daniel Baldwin discovers after a few moments that fuel gauge showing empty tank. Has Daniel Baldwin as a top-trained CIA agent never understand that a gasoline engine requires gas to operate? As usual in these crap movies by action fiction the good character has his chance to shoot the villain in the penultimate scene, but fail to make them stand and talk old memories for a while. Villain Richard Tyson manage to escape but he is of course killed by Daniel Baldwin in the so-called violent final scene.

Daniel Baldwin looks like Alec Baldwin but played even worse. Erika Eleniak and Tony Todd playing in there sleep. The only one that performs more than what the script requires is Richard Tyson who played the defected CIA agent William Stenwick.

That producers give Jim Wynorski money to direct films is for me a mystery. Take only Vampire in Vegas [2009] as a deterrent example.

Surprisingly good for a movie like this

[scoop-6 · 7/10 · 13 January 1999]

The Pandora Project looks (and smells) like an ordinary action-movie, but the film is quite good. The action is ok, it is exiting. The bad thing about the movie is the end which is predictable. Specialy when Erika get caught by the bad guy.

Erika finds her career in a Pandora's Box ready to be opened.

[SanDiego · 25 March 2000]

Probably because of the huge success "Under Seige" enjoyed, and I imagine continues to enjoy on video with action fans, Erika Eleniak of "Baywatch" fame has molded a career in and out of military action films. Most have been direct-to-video, all have been duds, including the Dennis Hopper comedy "Chasers." Considering that most ex-Playboy centerfolds concentrate on erotic videos it could be worse. If Erika's handlers were trying to mold her into a female Chuck Norris, okay, great idea, but she's mostly the damsel in distress, hence, a second banana. That's too bad, because Erika Eleniak is a good actress, easy on the eyes, and the type of star a studio used to mold into academy award winning status. She should have easily taken the roles offered to Sharon Stone and moved onto the roles offered Julia Roberts. I suppose when a great actress is saddled into cheap flicks she eventually reaches cult status (film noir queen Sally Forrest comes to mind).

We were pleasantly surprised by The Pandora Project

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 13 May 2022]

When William Stenwick (Tyson) steals a newfangled laser weapon from the military and attempts to sell it for big bucks on the black market, Captain John Lacy (Baldwin) snaps into action. CIA Director Houtman (Todd) chose Lacy for the "track down and stop Stenwick" mission because Lacy and Stenwick have a past. Former friends and now rivals, Lacy is now chasing Stenwick from Colombia to Los Angeles in order to retrieve the laser (i.e. "The Pandora Project"). Lacy is doubly under the gun because he's due to marry "GNN" news anchor Wendy Lane (Eleniak) in just a few days. Can he save the day in time to get to the chapel with his longtime love? Or will the Pandora Project destroy us all? Don't be too afraid to find out...

We know what you're thinking. The President of the United States is a character in this movie. Bo Jackson is in this movie. We regret to inform you that Bo Jackson does not play the President in The Pandora Project. We thought we'd get that out of the way right off the bat so no one's hopes got too high. Jackson plays a soldier named Manson who comes and goes so quickly, it's almost at Bear-level proportions.

But the good news is, we were pleasantly surprised by The Pandora Project. Rather than be yet another plane slog, there's actually very little dogfighting and plane footage in the film. It does fit fairly comfortably among its late-90's ilk, such as Desert Thunder (1999), Black Thunder (1998), Stealth Fighter (1999), Active Stealth (1999), Tactical Assault (1998), and Surface to Air (1998), etc., etc., etc. Some of the above may or may not have also starred Daniel Baldwin. But The Pandora Project is probably among the best of these types of these Jim Wynorski or Fred Olen Ray-made DTV military outings that use footage from other movies (in this case it's Clear and Present Danger). In other words, it's not really a plane slog at all. The dialogue is a bit better than usual and there are some good characterizations by the B-actors we all know and love.

Richard Tyson is much more charismatic here than he usually is. He wears different Hawaiian shirts throughout the film, as well as a baseball cap. He's your classic wisecracking villain. In the beginning it seems like he commands a cadre of ninjas, but those are just his helpers in Delta Force-esque outfits. Most of the time, it's just Tyson as a solo baddie, which is more than enough this time around. The presence of Eleniak was welcome, as always, but she should have done more. Her part was a bit too small.

Tony Todd has a commanding presence and a voice that you really want to pay attention to. His name in the film, Houtman, is markedly similar to Trautman, and he always wants to know what the action man in the field, Lacy, is up to. Hmmm...

Speaking of Baldwin, he has a Corey Hart-esque spiky brush cut, and he gives hope to those among the population who may be a bit on the chunky side but who still want to get into the fight, be physical, and be the hero. Interestingly, his military code name in the film is Avatar. The planet that the movie Avatar (2009) takes place on is Pandora. Looks like a certain James Cameron was watching The Pandora Project.

Most of the fight/action scenes are very, very stupid (although in more-or-less a good way). The laser scenes are also pretty amusing, and the whole idea that the laser will kill someone, and instead of incinerating them into a pile of ashes, they're just lying there with their eyes closed without a scratch on them never failed to provide a few laffs.

In the end, The Pandora Project is one of the better - or, should we say, more entertaining - entries in this particular DTV subgenre. In other words, don't be afraid of watching it if you come across it. Be sure to stay tuned for the after-credits sequence as well.

Good action up to the finale.

[Dago · 6 September 1998]

The movie was moving along fine, the hero has a beautiful princess, the bad knight kidnaps the princess, now the hero must rescue the princess from the black knight. Same ole, same ole. until they got to the big face to face. Baldwin is going to kill Tyson and keep the money for himself. But before he does that he tells Eleniak to exit the vehicle, when she gets next to the bad guy, you know it, bad guy grabs girl wrestles her into the truck and then we have the perennial chase, Baldwin dives into back of truck, starts punching bad guy while bad guys driving truck, How stupid do you think the viewers are? If the writers can't think of a good intelligent ending, please don't even start the movie.