For me Sunshine is an movie unsure what genre its suppose to reside in, Action? Suspense? Contemplative? Psychedelic? its at once all of those things and none of them as Danny Boyle pilots the whole ensemble towards its fiery conclusion with masses of style but an edge that suffers from the lack of focus.

From the plot outline which speaks of our Sun dieing and the human attempt to avert the end via a massive nuclear bomb shot into the Sun's core from the Icarus 2 spacecraft you'd think popcorn and throwaway, which would have almost certainly be true if somebody like Michael Bay had been in charge (even though I love the Bay, just not for this film) but Boyle had other plans as in the first half of the movie as least it lays out its stand as a cross between Solaris and 2001 retooled for the multiplex generation.

The emphasis is on the fragility of the human mind and the hypnotic effect the nearing Gas giant has on the crew. Indeed one character takes to frequent interludes in the observation lounge of Icarus starring in silence for long periods as if looking at God, indeed Sunshine is a movie heavy with meaning like this as it places the Sun in the position of an encompassing inescapable entity and just as in Theology God is all powerful and seeing in Sunshine it is the burning fire that cannot be avoided. It proves moments of true cinematic beauty as the viewer is treated to amazing lingering shots and a finely timed score. Just as large parts of 2001 were iconic images Sunshine does a damn good job of challenging the old classic in this area.

In terms of the characters and their development Sunshine won't win any awards. The relatively brisk pace of the movie which avoids any type of needless bloat also has the unfortunate effect of making the characters nothing more then brief outlines. Cillian Murphy does his best to add depth with bouts of fierce eye gazing while Chris Evan's does a great job of making his hard headed pragmatic character the most interesting of the bunch through the sheer force of his performance but elsewhere people like Michelle Yeoh and Rose Byrne never break out into anything of note.

The suspense angle when it swings into view delivers in spades, again its not a question of big explosions and action more of a tensing danger to it something Boyle at least for the first 2/3 of the movie should be highly commended for. You may have noticed I've only said 2/3 because if the movie ended there I'd have no hesitation giving this a very high A grade instead its the final 1/3 that hits out into leftfield Event Horizon batzo territory.

Quite simply Boyle must have shown the original drafts to a bunch of movie executives who completely missed the brilliance of the opening parts and insisted on loud action insanity. So what we get is a character from the Icarus 1 (an earlier failed mission which the Icarus 2 had taken a detour to investigate when it received its distress beacon) that seems to be the twin brother of Sam Neils possessed scientist from Event Horizon. Hes a tad crazy to say the least which precipitates much mayhem and stuff blowing up which I normally don't mind but in the context of what had gone before is completely out of tune.

And the main ending itself althou packed with some of the most beautiful shots I'm likely to see this year is a bit of a cop out as if Boyle was totally unsure how to wrap the movie up in a conventional sense and went for a Religious/Science mishmash that feels like a cheat.

Ultimately despite the many plus points and memorable images Sunshine is a film that like Icarus itself flew to close to the Sun for comfort. An enjoyable movie but it could have been a masterpiece.

B+

C-

I'm so angry right now.

How come? I'm asking seriously now because this is the first bloody movie i've reviewed in ages that somebody else has actually seen so I'd like another viewpoint. No vagina wash jokes I beg of you.

It didn't feel like a movie, did it. It felt like a National Geographic documentary. The dangers they encounter are just 2nd rate, it feels original because it's fascinating. The way the characters die off, are just boring and uneventful. The angle Boyle should of played more was with the whole oxygen and the whole 2 people have to die for the rest to live. I thought that was done well. The characters are also boring, the whole lot of them. The way Evans' characters dies is laughable. The horror element was very paper thin and did nothing for the film as a whole.

We look for different things in movies its seems getluv. The first 2/3 felt like staring into the depths of madness for me and done brilliantly, I wouldn't call it a national geographic style film myself its a bit to vague for that.

The characters I'll grant you weren't great but I think the imagery was a compensation, it was the themes that kept me interested over the characters which were cyphers more then anything.

I'd agree with you on the terrible shittiness of the horror element that crept into the thing near the end. If Boyle had the balls to go with the Oxygen issue over an Event Horizon rip-off I'd have been happy. I was tempted to give a low B because of the end section but I loved what occurred before that to much.

Seeing this on Wednesday. Pretty excited.

Alright, loyal. Spill it. How'd you see it?

Because he lives all over the planet...

What a waste of talent!

Conceit.

After building up my hopes with it's hard sci-fi setup, this movie proceeded to aim lower and lower, until it finally hit it's target of rock bottom horror clichés...

By the end, I couldn't care less about this steaming pile of Boyle dung...

He continues to create great set-ups that end up sabotaging their own promise. He hasn't made a really great movie since his big screen debut with Shallow Grave in 1994 -- the guy's clearly coasting on fumes...

2 out of 5.

I coulda gone for more of either...

Can someone tell me this is as good as it looks? Please? I'm really excited for it but even bradley isn't satisfied, so I'm a little concerned.

Its really good until the last 30 minutes.

I'd say it's more like it's really good for the first 30 minutes (out of 108 minutes) then it gets worser and worser...




(...and anyways -- wadda ya mean "even bradley"! )

I actually like your taste in movies.

Wadda ya mean "actually"?!?

From a review:

Funny, since Alien is a horror movie right in the vein of the classic slashers....

I'm no expert on classic slashers, but I've been told by those in the know that Jason X is far from achieving classic status.

Still your point would be a good one, if Sunshine was a tenth of the movie that Alien was...

My point was more that Alien, in itself, is more similar to something like Halloween than something like 2001. It's a hybrid of the two, but it's clearly more horror than sci-fi.

Sunshine, on the other hand, sounds more like Event Horizon. Am I right?

I love Event Horizon, so if it's like that...

SUNSHINE

072507 @ a Screening 100% no previews

Sunshine reminded me of Solaris alot with it being heavy on dialogue and story but this story was a bit more interesting than Solaris. The feel was very much the same though. I liked the cast. It was pretty diverse but without the token black bloke. The idea and concept of the story was very interesting from the beginning. I like how simple ideas can become pretty interesting films once the filler parts are mixed into the middle. I thought the acting was good and the sound great and visuals were excellent. I did not like the use of the stowaway from the first Icarus mission. He apparently was Radioactive man or something and I did not like the use of him stating how he spoke with God or other words to that effect. I didn't see the point of having an insane guy being connected with religion. I thought they still could have had just as compelling a story going on w/o his use. Overall, I thought the film was good though not great. The visuals and depiction of space stood out the most for me.

B

I liked it. Until the end.

http://www.dementedfrog.com/Sunshine/su ... eview.html

I thought it was incredibly fascinating and well-made. The direction is impeccable and the visuals are nothing short of amazing. The characters presented were interesting and likable, and I actually didn't mind the abrupt change in tone at the end. The middle portion (or second act, as some are referring to it as here) was flawless and my favorite part of the film. Anyways, definitely recommended.

B+