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Bower
Corp. Bower
"Hey, listen... I get it. You did what you had to do. You made it. No one's gonna judge you... You are a survivor and right now we have to reset the reactor."
Played By: Ben Foster
- Action Survivor: Bower's not some superhero. But, he makes it out alive by quick thinking and a lot of luck.
- All-Loving Hero: Bower is selflessly brave as he tries to save as many people he can and doesn't want to leave people behind to die. Though he does becomes apathetic at one point in the film.
- Always Save the Girl: Bower seems to value the life of his wife more than anything else and hopes to find her before the Hunters do.
- Arm Cannon: His main weapon.
- Break the Cutie: Bower is a Boy Scout who slowly loses his sanity throughout the film.
- Claustrophobia: Suffers from it, as shown from his panic attacks when trapped in hypersleep and when he gets stuck when traveling through the ship's vents.
- Cowardly Lion: Bower is a shaking mess throughout most of the movie. Doesn't stop him from giving it his all.
- Despair Event Horizon: When he finds out that his wife is dead, he almost gives up on saving the ship.Bower: There's nothing left! It's gone! There's nothing left to go back to...
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: There was nothing left for him on Earth, so he enlisted on the Tanis mission.
- Face Your Fears:
- Bower is a claustrophobe, but being on a ship with cramped corridors and tight vents, he doesn't have much of an option but to face down his phobia.
- Especially towards the end where Gallo tries to drive him insane by exploiting this fear. He opens up the control room window revealing nothing but pitch black. Bower has another panic attack due to there apparently being no escape.
Gallo: Let go of your fear! - Goal in Life: Bower's reason for going on the ship is to find a place in history.
- Happy Flashback:
- Has one about his childhood, where he watches TV with his parents when Tanis is discovered and being inspired by the idea of sending people there.
- He does remember his wife, Evalon, mouthing the words "I love you". Also flashes back to moments with him holding her hand.
- The Heart: Bower acts as this to Nadia, Manh, and Leland. He tries to convince everyone to stop fighting each other and start working together, since they're going to die otherwise.Bower: I know it's felt like every man for himself. But a little fucking solidarity goes a long way.
- The Idealist: Bower is a Boy Scout, as Payton calls him. He believes there will always be law and says that a little solidarity goes a long way.
- Loser Protagonist: His wife left him and there was really nothing left for him on Earth.
- Made of Iron: He continually gets damaged and wounded but powers through.
- Ontological Mystery: He remembers his training and mundane details, but not much in the way of his past.
- The Paralyzer: What his arm cannon operates as. However, like any real riot-control weapon, it can be very dangerous if used up close.
- Running Gag: He falls A LOT through out the film.
- Slept Through the Apocalypse: He was in cryo-sleep while everything aboard the ship was going to pot.
- Super Wrist-Gadget: His Arm Cannon.
- Tragic Hero: Turns out that the woman he remembers isn't his wife but his ex wife, who stayed on Earth. After the divorce he had nothing left and enlisted on the flight to find a place in history. He obviously still loves her as he had kept a photo of the woman. Worse is that Earth mysteriously vanished, meaning that she did as well.
- Would Hit a Girl: Has a quick fight with Nadia.
Payton
Lt. Payton
"Well, alone or not, we can't assume help will be coming."
Played By: Dennis Quaid
- Alone with the Psycho: The psycho in this case is Gallo. Or rather, it was never anybody at all, since he is the psycho.
- The Heart: When Bower has his claustrophobic panic attack when traveling through the vent he lightens the mood by joking that he got the door open. Also, acting as the voice of reason when Bower becomes desperate to find his wife Payton tells him that he should focus on the ship first.Payton: "We save the ship, we save them."
- He also tries to act as the voice of reason to Gallo.
- Mission Control: Payton stays in the cryosleep chamber for pretty much the entire film, directing Bower and helping him when he can.
- Ontological Mystery: He's suffering from short-term amnesia from the cryo-sleep, and his conflict with Gallo on the bridge is his mind trying to resolve this.
- Only Sane Man: Between the fearful Bower, the crazy Gallo and all the self-interested survivors on the ship, Payton remains relatively calm, focused and maintains the voice of reason. Subverted Trope. Given he is Gallo, he's probably the craziest one in the crew.
Gallo
Corp. Gallo
"Do you know the symptoms of Pandorum?"
Played By: Cam Gigandet
- Ax-Crazy: Gallo becomes increasingly unhinged and violent.
- Large Ham: You could say crazy is hammy.Gallo: You're killing us! WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE, CORPORAL!!"
- It's All About Me: He consistently tries to get Payton to abandon Bower and launch themselves out into space before the ship shuts down, buying them a few more days to be rescued.
- Mr. Fanservice: Gallo played by pretty boy Cam Gigandet is naked in this. May be a case of Fan Disservice, too, considering he emerges from a creepy hole in the wall while covered in slime and gibbering in terror.
- Naked on Arrival: He pops out of a hole in the wall covered in slime and without a stitch on.
- Sanity Slippage: Progressively goes through this on the bridge with Payton.
- Slasher Smile: He starts sporting these as his mask of sanity slips.
- Unreliable Expositor: Gallo claims that the rest of his flight team succumbed to Pandorum and he killed them in self-defense; it's strongly implied that the reverse is true. He also claims that the ship is lost in space when it's actually crash-landed on Tanis.
Nadia
Nadia
"Hey, we were meant to go on and we were meant to survive."
Played By: Antje Traue
- Action Survivor: Nadia came out of cryosleep months before Bower, and she's turned into a hardened survivor with battle-damaged clothing and shivs. It's not clear whether she was that tough before cryosleep or months of living on the run from the Hunters toughened her up (although the former is hinted somewhat more than the latter). She's also a "survivor" in the sense that she was originally part of a team of crewmembers from the biology crew who all woke up at once, but who got picked off one at a time.
- Badass Bookworm: She's pretty athletic and knows how to fight. Before the flight she was a part of the Brandenburg Institute genetic sampling team located in Germany.
- Barefoot Poverty: Only walks around in tattered socks exposing her toes and heels. She is not comfortable with it and tries to mug Bower for his boots when she attacks him the first time.
- Bizarre Taste in Food: She eats grasshoppers for the protein. Truth in Television, as grasshoppers actually contain disproportionately high levels of protein for human consumption. Also considering that there's little edible food left on the ship, it's a clever survival tactic. Given that they obviously didn't just leave grasshoppers alive for a thousand years on the ship, she must have hatched the grasshoppers out of cryosleep, intentionally raising them as a food source.
- Character Development: She drops her egocentric mindset and shows some "fucking solidarity", in that she starts to care about Bower's search for his wife. This happens after Bower saves her from being eaten a couple of times.
- Clothing Damage: She sustains a fair bit of it. Her tank top and pants are tattered and filthy, and her vest has also seen better days.
- Dark Action Girl: Initially acts as an antagonist to Bower.
- Deus Angst Machina: Nadia broods about her state of amnesia.Nadia: It only comes in pieces. I know everything about this vault and its systems. But I still can't remember where I grew up... or my brother's name.
- Doesn't Trust Those Guys: She doesn't trust Bower or Manh at first. Judging from guys like Leland, you can see why.
- Gratuitous German: Nadia's primary language is German, though she knows fluent English. Sometimes when she curses she falls back into untranslated German.
- Grudging "Thank You": To Bower.
- Hates Being Touched: Puts a knife to Bower's neck when he touches her.
- Home Base: Nadia actually has a very nifty hiding place, compared to other crewmembers who just wander the halls after they wake up and then get picked off by the Hunters. As the head of the Biology crew, she has access to the restricted "Noah's ark" vault containing thousands of biological samples. Because it's restricted to her palm-print it's one of the few areas in the ship that the Hunters can't get into. This also means that it's still relatively clean, and hasn't been worn down from years of Hunters crawling through it (unlike the grime-covered other sections of the ship). When she takes Bower and Manh in there, it's one of the few times that they actually feel momentarily safe. The downside is that while Nadia is keyed for access to the Biology section, she can't get into any of the sensitive areas like the bridge or reactor, which are keyed for Flight crew only - that is, until Bower shows up.
- The Heart: She keeps Bower motivated to save the ship.
- It's All About Me: Due to the fact that there is no rescue, no turning back, and everyone on the flight crew is either dead or stuck in cryosleep, Nadia has developed an "every man for himself" attitude. She mugs Bower for his supplies (and shoes) and is willing to leave Manh behind in the Hunters' hunting ground because he is slowing her down.
- Justified Criminal: During the first mugging she says that she'll gut Bower if he resists. However, during her second mugging attempt, where Bower resists and falls from a great distance she asks him if he is okay instead, indicating that what she said was an empty threat.
- Ms. Fanservice: Has torn clothing and sweaty cleavage, and her face is easy on the eyes. Not that her outfit is particularly revealing.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: More notably in the Spanish dub, although she does the same in her native language in the original.
- The Smurfette Principle: Becomes this when it's revealed that Bower's wife is not on the ship.
- Tomboy: A tough girl without problem for cursing and eating disgusting things.
- Took a Level in Kindness: She gives Bower emotional support and helps him remain optimistic after he remembers that his wife actually left him and vanished along with Earth. This is right after he saves her from being eaten by Leland and this her way of showing gratitude.Nadia: Well... she saved your life.
- She also offers him grasshoppers and he accepts, which disgusts Manh.
- Also tries to keep Bower from going insane and defending him from Gallo.
- Workaholic: Her motive for enlisting on the mission was that it didn't feel right just handing off the genetic samples of Earth's biosphere that she'd spent seven years collecting. So she volunteered to go along with it and still protects it when the ship goes to hell.
- Unreliable Expositor: Nadia thinks that the creatures are crew/passengers who have transformed, but they are actually evolved descendants of the crew and passengers.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Stops Manh from attacking the Hunter child, thinking it's human at first.
Manh
Manh
"Ship? Reactor?"
Played By: Cung Le
- The Big Guy: He's the best fighter of the main trio, as well as the most good-natured (aside from Bower) and the least intellectual (he's an agriculturist, not a spaceship pilot like Bower or a biologist like Nadia).
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: He hesitates when he sees the Hunter child. It costs him his life.
- Determinator: Every time the Hunters corner him he puts up a fight, even though he is physically outmatched.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He lures the Hunters away while Bower resets the reactor, resulting in his death.
- Minored In Ass Kicking: Manh is an agricultural worker who also just happens to be a martial arts expert, both with and without weapons (played by professional fighter Cung Le).
- Nice Guy: Manh is by far the kindest and most noble character. He saves Bower twice, once from the Hunters and once from Nadia. He offers to guide Bower through danger to the reactor with only the slightest clue as to Bower's mission. He's easily the team's most capable fighter and never leaves Bower or Nadia behind (despite the two of them leaving him behind on more than one occasion). He holds the broken catwalk when it breaks. And, finally, he distracts the Hunters and lures them away while Bower resets the reactor.
- Only Sane Man: Manh is only person Bower encounters on the ship that doesn't need to be persuaded to help him restart the reactor and save the ship.
- Pet the Dog: Refusing to kill the Hunter child is rather sweet. Too bad it gets him killed.
- Reality Has No Subtitles: All of Manh's dialogue is in untranslated Vietnamese. He has to point and mime for Bower and Nadia to understand what he's trying to say.
- To Be Lawful or Good: He becomes conflicted by the idea of killing a Hunter child.
- Would Hit a Girl: Has a quick fight with Nadia as well and lands some serious hits on her.
Leland
Leland
"And I'm sorry, but I'm a little too old and a little too tired for the honorable way of hunting game."
Played By: Eddie Rouse
- Asshole Victim: He’s murdered by Gallo, but it’s hard to actually feel bad for a craven cannibal. Bower and Nadia don’t care at all.
- Despair Speech: He has a very pessimistic view of the situation. There's no rescue and no way to reach their destination, since Earth is gone and they've long since lost control of the ship. So there is nothing left to live for other than survival instinct.Leland: I wouldn't have survived this long if I had a heart. You know, a strange thing, the survival instinct. I mean, there's nothing really left to live for.
- Dirty Coward: Leland is very quick to abandon the others.
- Doesn't Trust Those Guys:Leland: You don't survive this long trusting strangers.
- Eye Scream: Gallo rams a syringe into his eye.
- Faux Affably Evil: Acts very considerate and helpful at first.
- I'm a Humanitarian: He has no choice other than a little bit of algae to make herbs with.
- It's All About Me: His schtick.
- Mr. Exposition: He's the one to explain some of the mysteries of the ship.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Tries to be funny and friendly... at first.
- Survivor Guilt: Leland feels ashamed of what he has done to survive and doesn't want to be judged for it.
- The Social Darwinist: Says that he wouldn't survive this long if he had a heart.Leland: Its just survival of the fittest... or maybe the brightest.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Leland does this to Bower when he gives up on saving the ship.
Hunter-Leader
Hunter-Leader
Played By: André Hennicke
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Since the Hunters value strength and are known to eat each other, you only get to be the leader by being the smartest, most badass hunter of them all.
- Big Bad: The leader of the Hunters. Ultimately subverted. Gallo is the Big Bad.
- Duel to the Death: Manh kills him in one-on-one combat.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The Hunters are a cannibal clan, after all.
- Worthy Opponent: Considers Manh to be one, giving him a weapon for their fight.
Shepard
Shepard
''"Shepard - team six, sir."
Played By: Norman Reedus
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He's nice and cooperative with Bower for maybe a minute until learning he isn't a part of a rescue team. Then he immediately becomes hostile and dismissive of Bower's mission.Shepard: You're late. There's no fucking C.O. on this ship. Fuck you.
- Cluster F-Bomb: He rivals Bower in the sheer amount of f-bombs dropped.
- Dirty Coward: The primary reason he refuses to help Bower is out of fear of the Hunters, despite the fact that everybody's dead anyway if Bower doesn't fix the ship.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He dies mere minutes after cursing out Bower, refusing to help him and abandoning him to the Hunters - after Bower saved him from a Hunter trap.
- Ungrateful Bastard: He abandons Bower after he's saved by him.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He's only in the movie for maybe four minutes.
SPOILER
Payton/Gallo
"I am offering you the kingdom and all that's holding you back is your own fear."
Played By: Dennis Quaid & Cam Gigandet
- Affably Evil: Gallo is very likable when he thinks he's Payton and at the end tries to convince Bower to willingly join his side.
- A God Am I/Devil Complex: Gallo takes it upon himself to be the new God, creating the Hunters to demonstrate his brutal philosophy, and the new Devil, mocking and destroying pluralism and morality. Leland sums it up nicely.Leland: He was both God and the Devil!
- Amnesiac Dissonance: Payton goes from a helpful professional and Mission Control to an Ax-Crazy Big Bad after he remembers he's Gallo.
- Ax-Crazy: Gallo started suffering from pandorum after the transmission from Earth, and went completely insane. He slaughtered his crewmates and crowned himself king of the ship for an unspecified length of time.
- Big Bad: Everything going wrong on the ship is due to Gallo: the power loss, the abandonment of the original mission... He even created the Hunters.
- Crazy Survivalist: Gallo is fixated on survival of the fittest, and set himself up as the king of his new world after catching the Space Madness.
- Dead Person Impersonation: The "real" Payton is likely dead, since Gallo went on to use his hibernation pod. Due to the post-hypersleep amnesia, he initially believes himself to be Payton.
- Driven to Madness: Learning of Earth and the human race’s destruction pushed him over the edge, leading him to murder the rest of his flight team and start ruling over the ship as a twisted, mad king.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: It absolutely baffles him why Bower doesn't want to stay on the ship and eat people.
- Evilutionary Biologist: Is this to some degree.Gallo: This ship is a seed from which we can create a new world! Raw! Natural state! Beautiful! Perfect!
- God Is Dead: This is Gallo's claim and his justification.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: He doesn't take the news of Earth's apparent destruction well.
- Insane Troll Logic: To say his reasoning has... gaps... in it is a bit of an understatement. He doesn’t seem to grasp that the world he’s created aboard the ship is as destructive and self-defeating as the one they all left behind. Probably more so, in fact.
- Manipulative Bastard: Gallo managed to influence an entire culture through his insane rantings and control of the ship.
- Misanthrope Supreme: Gallo rants about how aspects of human civilization such as law, order, and morality are petty and self-defeating concepts which led to overpopulation. He then declares they should create a new world to replace humanity with the ship in a natural state, which is an obvious reference to the tribal Hunters.
- Motive Rant: He gets a downright impressive rant during the climax.Gallo: "You have to let go of your petty concept of reality. That's just baggage from the old world and we both know that didn't work out very well now, did it? They fucked up our planet. Life eats life. And all that's left is what is."
- Order Versus Chaos: The battle between Payton and Gallo, sanity and insanity, the person he once was and the person he became.
- The Social Darwinist: Gallo believes that literal dog eat dog tactics would prevent overpopulation from happening again.
- Space Madness: What drove him crazy was the onset of pandorum.
- Split-Personality Merge: What transpires between Payton and Cam!Gallo is basically Gallo's evil Id and dutiful Superego fighting each other. The evil Id wins.
- Straw Nihilist: After Earth's destruction, Gallo took on the view that morality was as dead as humanity. He also tells to Bower that once free of morality, he will be like him: "absolutely free".
- Übermensch: To him human morality is but a hollow illusion and he seeks to develop and live out his philosophy by playing God with the rest of the crew.
- Villainous Breakdown: Gallo is constantly having one, his erratic behaviour making him jump from rant to rant.
Cooper
Cooper
Played By: David P. Johnson
The third member of Bower and Payton's flight crew, who is missing when they wake up.
- Doomed Predecessor: Bower finds his long-dead body not far from the bridge, and a short film in the bonus features shows Cooper allying with two of Nadia's team before the hunters get them.
