I actually think that this is a telemovie - that is a movie made specifically for television, though this is not really a problem - some of the best movies don't ever make it to the big screen (especially in Australia). Some feel that if a movie isn't a movie from the cinema then it must not be any good. The reason for this is that the companies send movies to the cinemas because they think that they will be good, but in the long run many of them flop.Lifepod is a suspense movie set in space. A luxury liner from Venus explodes when somebody releases a very dangerous mining tool in the reactor, and only one pod escapes. The quality of the pod is very bad as the corporation that maintained the liner believed that they were not needed. Now the seven occupants must get along with each other with minimum food, little chance of rescue, and a saboteur.This movie becomes more of a who done it as we have seven people and one of them is a saboteur. There is a violent criminal, journalist, tech-op, company director, hot headed woman miner come rebel, and a blind man. Not only do need a suspect, but a reason as to why it happened. We instantly believe, through what we are told, that the rebels are responsible for destroying the ship, but are they? One problem is that we know very little about what it is like at this time, so a small write up would have been nice at the beginning of the movie.What this movie explores is the paranoia that builds up with the people all crowded together in the pod with a murderer on board. Suspicions instantly fall towards the obvious, while the real perpetrator is continuing to ply his trade. He is very intelligent and trusting, but the way they found out is pretty lame. I will not say any more lest this movie appear on TV again. I liked it.

Christmas Eve in 2168 A.D. A motley assortment of nine people are trapped on board a creaky, rusty, antiquated lifepod after the luxury space liner they were on blows up. One of the nine individuals is the deadly saboteur responsible for destroying the ship. Moreover, after a few days they soon begin to run low on both food and water. Ron Silver's strong, capable direction wrings plenty of sweaty and claustrophobic tension from the smart, inspired and compelling script by M. Jay Roach and Pen Densham. The uniformly excellent acting from a bang-up cast rates as another significant asset: Robert Loggia as a gruff, jerky, overbearing business executive, CCH Pounder as the feisty pilot, Adam Storke as an edgy convict, Jessica Tuck as a sassy, snoopy reporter, Silver as an astute blind man, Kelli Williams as a scrappy young woman, Stan Shaw as a tough cook with a broken leg, Lisa Waltz as a distraught woman with a sickly baby, and especially Ed Gale as a fiercely dutiful dwarf "toolie" with a mechanical arm all give fine and convincing performances. The bleakly serious tone, Robert Steadman's sharp cinematography, the nifty special effects, and Mark Mancina's spare, spooky score are up to par as well. A solid, suspenseful and engrossing little winner.

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