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Sunshine

post #1 of 61
2/2/08 at 11:01am
Thread Starter 
Apologies if this has been posted, Im sure it existed before the upgrade, but I can't seem to find anything on it now.

Anyway, yet another disappointment from Boyle who, as far as Im concerned has one one interesting film, one good film and one masterpiece to his name, and quite a few out and out pieces of shit.

This film started promisingly but just descended into nonsense in my opinion. The third act wasn't just weak, it was a combination of pseudo artistic wankery and cliched sci-fi/horror tropes we've seen so many times before that I thought there was a glitch in the matrix.

I get really irritated by films that are convinced of their own profundity without offering anything profound whatsoever. This film seems to think its Solaris when its lucky to have the depth of Event Horizon. I didn't give a shit about a single one of the incredibly loosely sketched characters and except for the fact that a few of them seemed to be vaguely miscast they were almost interchangeable.

It was kinda mildly engaging up until the arrival of Sam Neill from Event Horizons ending for seemingly no other reason but to create some faux-tension towards the end as the film simply descended into rubbish.

I just don't understand how the writer of the novel The Beach and the director of fucking Trainspotting somehow thought this was something approaching good. It's utterly gob-smacking to me. Was there a lot of studio interference in this movie or something? Is there some kind of directors cut somewhere thats actually decent?

...cause while this wasn't a piece of shit, it just seemed to be kinda... there.

Just very average, and a terrible disappointment considering the talent involved.
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post #2 of 61
2/2/08 at 11:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rain Dog View Post
Anyway, yet another disappointment from Boyle who, as far as Im concerned has one one interesting film, one good film and one masterpiece to his name, and quite a few out and out pieces of shit.
I'm intrigued. Which of his films is which?

I thought Sunshine had a hell of a lot going for it, until the last third shat it all away. Its beautiful to look at though.
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post #3 of 61
2/2/08 at 12:03pm
Thread Starter 
Its gorgeous to look at no doubt, and like I said, until the hell-returned Sam Neill turned up I was onboard and interested still to see where this was going - the third act was the deal breaker for me as well.

If it had just had something to say to go with the po-faced tone of the dirst two acts, but then in the third it alomst became like a different film or something. Like Alex Garland literally had no idea how to finish his script.

Oh and the order goes

Interesting: Shallow Grave

Good: 28 Days Later

Masterpiece: Trainspotting

I will admit to not having seen Millions, but Ive seen the rest of his films.
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post #4 of 61
2/2/08 at 12:18pm
Millions is great for what it is(a kid's movie). I'd add The Beach to the "good" category as well, but I think that could be due to having low expectations, then being pleasantly surprised.

I only saw Sunshine for the first time the other day, but I dig it overall. I'd heard so much about the shittiness of the 3rd act that I was expecting it to be a crime against humanity or something. Instead, it just became a slasher film. That certainly isn't ideal for the story, but I didn't feel it was a movie-killer, either.

This could once again be the low expectations talking.
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post #5 of 61
2/2/08 at 12:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rain Dog View Post
Its gorgeous to look at no doubt, and like I said, until the hell-returned Sam Neill turned up I was onboard and interested still to see where this was going - the third act was the deal breaker for me as well.

If it had just had something to say to go with the po-faced tone of the dirst two acts, but then in the third it alomst became like a different film or something. Like Alex Garland literally had no idea how to finish his script.

Oh and the order goes

Interesting: Shallow Grave

Good: 28 Days Later

Masterpiece: Trainspotting

I will admit to not having seen Millions, but Ive seen the rest of his films.
So I'm guessing you don't like A Life Less Ordinary?
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post #6 of 61
2/2/08 at 12:46pm
Millions is a wonderful movie; age is irrelevant.
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post #7 of 61
2/2/08 at 12:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bloody Wanker View Post
So I'm guessing you don't like A Life Less Ordinary?

Its a random train-crash that barely qualifies as a film for me, but on that level its a fascinating failure - but I can't say I like it no. I do remember the only time I saw it was when it was released and I was so excited to see what the guy who directed Trainspotting did next and I just sat there at the end thinking what.the.fuck.

...and that was back in my uni film class days when I was going through a big David Lynch phase.
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post #8 of 61
2/2/08 at 1:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheKraken View Post
Millions is a wonderful movie; age is irrelevant.
I agree, it is great. But it is primarily geared to kids.
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post #9 of 61
2/2/08 at 2:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rain Dog View Post
If it had just had something to say to go with the po-faced tone of the dirst two acts, but then in the third it alomst became like a different film or something. Like Alex Garland literally had no idea how to finish his script.
Wasn't there a bit of "creative tension" between Garland (athiest) and Boyle (believer) with regard to how to end the film? I seem to remember reading that somewhere; in any case it's as good a reason as any for the incoherence of the third act with respect to itself and to the film as a whole. And that's putting aside my deep misgivings about the whole concept (which I would have been willing to ignore if the film had eventually turned out to be sufficiently thought provoking, like I did for SOLARIS).
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post #10 of 61
2/2/08 at 4:33pm
I still think you can't beat the visuals for this one, and it compensates for the narrative inconsistencies. Plus, this is a SCARY movie.
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post #11 of 61
2/2/08 at 7:31pm
Compared to this, the third act of Batman Begins is Kubrick. The first two acts are quite beautiful though.
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post #12 of 61
2/2/08 at 9:02pm
The biggest problem with the third act is earlier in the movie, someone quips about how movies always have everyone split up, "and then the alien takes them all out one by one," and everyone laughs, as do we, because we know it's not that kind of movie.

And then third act happens, and it becomes that kind of movie. Which is disappointing.
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post #13 of 61
2/2/08 at 9:06pm
I was digging it up until the third act as well. When the guy showed up and started offing them I felt my love for the flick just trickling away. The one saving grace was my girlfriend at the time looked at me and said, "So, is that supposed to be Al Gore? Is he telling us we fucked up the sun, too?"

I didn't mind the movie so much after that.
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post #14 of 61
2/3/08 at 4:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rain Dog View Post
, yet another disappointment from Boyle who, as far as Im concerned has one one interesting film, one good film and one masterpiece to his name, and quite a few out and out pieces of shit.
Well, disqualifying Millions, that means he's batting 3-for-7 in feature films by your count. A smidge better by mine (I liked Sunshine pretty much on the same level as KABONG - just brilliant visuals, and an enjoyable first 2/3 that went off the rails in the end).

Could be worse. IMO only the greats really consistently knock it out of the park.
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post #15 of 61
2/3/08 at 4:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Clark View Post
The biggest problem with the third act is earlier in the movie, someone quips about how movies always have everyone split up, "and then the alien takes them all out one by one," and everyone laughs, as do we, because we know it's not that kind of movie.

And then third act happens, and it becomes that kind of movie. Which is disappointing.
Good point, I had totally forgotten about that.
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post #16 of 61
2/9/08 at 5:30pm
SUNSHINE was fantastic in my opinion.

I liked how the psychologist was feeling the presence of God in the direct sunlight, but didn't know at first that he was feeling the power of God (he just knew that he liked it).

I liked the heroism of the Asian captain. Also the error that occurs seemed realistic to me. A simple error and all hell breaks loose... a very human type of error.

The three guys trying to blast through the air lock and get back to their ship was awsome. I was a little confused how space could be that cold so close to the sun, but maybe b/c they were on the shadow side?

The 3rd act ruled. There had to be a link between Icarus I and II, and I loved the way that guy was mutating from the direct sunlight. It was like the power of God was making him superhuman. I found this very interesting b/c I've often wondered if the sun is heaven, b/c man will never ever be able to get to it, lifegiving force, etc.

I loved the non-Hollywood ending. And the sun-damaged arm skin ripping off. Wild...

Why wasn't this film a hit? It was one of the best of it's year... Now it is a great hidden gem. I thought there would be some dumb happy ending, but this film stayed realistic right to the end.
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post #17 of 61
2/9/08 at 6:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lisey's DEATH View Post
The 3rd act ruled...
No, it didn't.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lisey's DEATH View Post
I thought there would be some dumb happy ending, but this film stayed realistic right to the end.
Oh.

Ok.
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post #18 of 61
2/10/08 at 1:37am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lisey's DEATH View Post
SUNSHINE was fantastic in my opinion.

I liked how the psychologist was feeling the presence of God in the direct sunlight, but didn't know at first that he was feeling the power of God (he just knew that he liked it).

I liked the heroism of the Asian captain. Also the error that occurs seemed realistic to me. A simple error and all hell breaks loose... a very human type of error.

The three guys trying to blast through the air lock and get back to their ship was awsome. I was a little confused how space could be that cold so close to the sun, but maybe b/c they were on the shadow side?

The 3rd act ruled. There had to be a link between Icarus I and II, and I loved the way that guy was mutating from the direct sunlight. It was like the power of God was making him superhuman. I found this very interesting b/c I've often wondered if the sun is heaven, b/c man will never ever be able to get to it, lifegiving force, etc.

I loved the non-Hollywood ending. And the sun-damaged arm skin ripping off. Wild...

Why wasn't this film a hit? It was one of the best of it's year... Now it is a great hidden gem. I thought there would be some dumb happy ending, but this film stayed realistic right to the end.
Don Piano, is that you?
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post #19 of 61
2/10/08 at 1:58am
I really liked this overall
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexus-7 View Post
I only saw Sunshine for the first time the other day, but I dig it overall. I'd heard so much about the shittiness of the 3rd act that I was expecting it to be a crime against humanity or something. Instead, it just became a slasher film.

This could once again be the low expectations talking.
I accpeted the third act on a symbolic level, the idea that man faces adversity from within and without.

But I think I was able to do so after hearing so many bad things about it.
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post #20 of 61
2/11/08 at 12:20am
I had a lot less of a problem with the third act the second time I watched this on DVD. I still think the movie would have been more interesting if it had been about the crew tearing themselves apart under the pressure of their mission which is where all the tension comes from up until the captain of the first ship shows up.

Knowing that the film has an actual boogyman though, I went with it on the second viewing and all of the stuff with him was actually pretty good, just not where I had hoped the story would go.

Boyle's a lot better than 3/7 in my book though--as Millions is fantastic and The Beach is quite enjoyable too.
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post #21 of 61
2/11/08 at 8:20am
See, for me The Beach is on the bottom rung, jostling with A Life Less Ordinary. The book would have made a pretty great film if just done straight. It got more wrong in its second half than it did right.
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post #22 of 61
2/11/08 at 8:31am
Thread Starter 
MacGregor was right to crack the shits he lost The Beach to DiCarprio - he would have been about a thousand times better in the role and much closer to the book.
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post #23 of 61
2/11/08 at 11:18am
The first act was about self sacrifice. The second act was about having the will to sacrifice others. WTF was the third act?
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post #24 of 61
2/17/08 at 7:18pm
Just finished seeing this less than two hours ago. Dug it a lot.

And after reading the thread, I just gotta say: if I wanted to see Solaris, I'd have seen Solaris.

I thought the third act was just fine. The whole "slasher" thing wasn't that overt. The baddie doesn't even really chase people around, aside from Cassie, and even that is kept to a minimum. He doesn't interact at all with Chris Evans' character, either.

What's Sunshine? It's a real fine, smart, enaging and visually beautiful MOVIE.
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post #25 of 61
2/17/08 at 8:13pm
Can't edit my post anymore, but I just wanted to add that after a crappy turn in Live Free or Die Hard, Cliff Curtis really redeemed himself here. Great stuff from him.
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post #26 of 61
2/18/08 at 9:45pm
Visually, it was stunning. The film had its moments but the slasher ending didn't do a thing for me. Kind of disappointing. So out of place.
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post #27 of 61
2/23/08 at 6:44pm
Sunshine is a solid movie with a bad ending. The idea of being that far away from Earth scares me lots, so the first two acts were getting under my skin. The third act did not scare me, but I will say that it's better done than 90% of slasher movies out there.

I will agree with those who say this is a beautiful film to look at.
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post #28 of 61
2/23/08 at 7:45pm
Damn near an unofficial remake of SUPERNOVA -- if that film leaned closer to SOLARIS and EVENT HORIZON -- but lacking cheese and obvious studio interference. Though I couldn't give a shit about anything Boyle's done up to last year (I recall despising both SHALLOW GRAVE and TRAINSPOTTING on the basis of a single viewing many moons ago), SUNSHINE might be my favorite of 07.

Derivative out the ass, but up to that very last reel (when coherent editing and photography is suddenly no longer important to the filmmakers) a disturbing little thriller, dialogue and performances as tight as the impressive effects. It wasn't great, but I greatly admired it.
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post #29 of 61
2/24/08 at 1:52pm
I posted on the first Sunshine thread so sorry if this is repetitive.

I was hyped for this movie by articles in Empire Magazine that touted its “scientific realism”. What I got when I saw the move was a series of stunning visuals and a brain dead script that thinks it’s profound.

First of all, they posit that you can fly a spaceship into the SUN using a really good air conditioner and strapping a bunch of mirrors to the front of the ship. That is so insulting to the viewer’s intelligence that I could not take the movie seriously. Hell, a few sentences of dialogue about a force field would have taken care of the suspension of disbelief. But to brag about being scientifically plausible and then using the worst non explanation (and then taking great pains to elaborate on that explanation throughout the movie). It’s like if Top Gun featured Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt flying off the aircraft carrier by flapping big wooden wings that they tied to their arms, and expecting the audience to view this as a legitimate depiction of air combat.

The characters were too sketchy to care about, and their conflicts were contrived. The Blur man might have worked if they’d done something with him other than turn him into Sam Neil II. The one thing (other than the visuals) I liked about this movie was the end (no not the fact that the credits were about to roll and I could leave): the final scene on Earth was pretty cool and a half decent payoff to the (ridiculous) plot.
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post #30 of 61
4/2/08 at 2:32am
Just saw this, and thought it was pretty good. Not Boyle's best by any means, but visually very impressive and I didn't even mind the shift of the third act. I liked how they depicted the other captain, and the concept that light and time were bending and affecting the perceptions as the payload was delivered was cool even if it was kind of jarring. Also took Chris Evans up about 3 notches in my book. If 2007 wasn't so loaded with great performances, he should've gotten supporting actor consideration.
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post #31 of 61
4/2/08 at 3:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cylon Baby View Post
First of all, they posit that you can fly a spaceship into the SUN using a really good air conditioner and strapping a bunch of mirrors to the front of the ship.
This actually isn't all that implausible, considering that the average density of the Sun's photosphere (which is the layer right above the core) is two ten-thousandths of a kilogram per cubic meter. The corona is .000000000001 kg/mˆ3. For comparison's sake atmospheric pressure is (on average) 1.2 kg/mˆ3 on Earth at sea level.

At those solar densities there simply isn't enough of a medium to conduct the sun's heat into an object. The mirror array reflects off the infra-red radiation, and one would assume there's a fair amount of lead shielding after that, (given how they're toting a bomb composed of all the fissile material on earth), and that takes care of the particle radiation.

My problem with the science of the film is that they continued the whole "stuff freezes instantaneously in the vacuum of space" myth. Yes, space is very cold, space is also very empty, so there's nothing to conduct body heat away from the body. A person exposed to hard vacuum boils to death long before they can freeze.
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post #32 of 61
4/2/08 at 8:17am
Wow. This guy knows more science than Sunshine. Impressive post.
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post #33 of 61
4/2/08 at 8:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fafhrd View Post
My problem with the science of the film is that they continued the whole "stuff freezes instantaneously in the vacuum of space" myth. Yes, space is very cold, space is also very empty, so there's nothing to conduct body heat away from the body. A person exposed to hard vacuum boils to death long before they can freeze.
Are there any movies that get this right? How about _Total Recall_?

I agree that _Sunshine_ breaks down in the 3rd act, which is a real shame because it's solid right up 'til then. I particularly liked the fact that the "asshole" was right. It's not something you see all that often.
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post #34 of 61
4/2/08 at 9:05am
It's getting kind of cliche to complain about the third act of a movie on CHUD, but if it was ever true about anything it's Sunshine. The thing is that the first two acts were so good that my overall opinion of the movie remains quite favorable. Maybe it's the fact that I've long since gave up on wanting actual science in science fiction movies.
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post #35 of 61
4/2/08 at 9:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankCobretti View Post
Are there any movies that get this right? How about _Total Recall_?
Actually, '2001' gets it closest; strangely enough (or not)...

Explosive Decompression
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post #36 of 61
4/2/08 at 11:53am
Not much else I can say about the mentioned disastrous third act. What a disappointment. And for whoever said The Beach was actually good....no, just no.
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post #37 of 61
4/2/08 at 12:26pm
I was just waiting for the the evil Captain Crunch to sneer at Cillian Murphy and say: "NOW IS YOUR TIME TO DIE!!!"
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post #38 of 61
4/2/08 at 1:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelios View Post
It's getting kind of cliche to complain about the third act of a movie on CHUD, but if it was ever true about anything it's Sunshine. The thing is that the first two acts were so good that my overall opinion of the movie remains quite favorable. Maybe it's the fact that I've long since gave up on wanting actual science in science fiction movies.
It's weird, because my opinion of the first two acts of I AM LEGEND were somewhat favorable, and the problems of the third act ruined it all for me. It's interesting how the third act can make or break a movie.

I will at least say that the computer telling Cillian's character that there was one extra person on the ship freaked the shit out of me.
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post #39 of 61
4/2/08 at 7:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham View Post
Actually, '2001' gets it closest; strangely enough (or not)...

Explosive Decompression


Fascinating.

Thanks for posting that, Graham.
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post #40 of 61
4/3/08 at 3:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankCobretti View Post
Thanks for posting that, Graham.
Seconded. Really great read.

I really liked this movie despite the very flawed third act. It has stunning visuals, from the view of Mercury, the tense effort to repair the tiles, to the burning of the comm towers. Great movie to witness in HD. Good character interaction with a nice touch of social and philosophical debate. Evans did a great job, and it is always good to see Michelle Yeoh.
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post #41 of 61
5/11/08 at 11:07am
I think the third act could have worked if they'd just gone batshit metaphysical with it rather than simply having it be the captain of the first mission who somehow survived. Make it some living avatar of the sun or some embodiment of entropy or something like that whose trying to enforce the will of the universe and it would have made the whole third act feel as metaphorical as I think it was trying to be.
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post #42 of 61
5/11/08 at 1:13pm
I like how people keep comparing it to Solaris when if you really thought about it...they have nothing in fucking common besides interesting visuals in space.

The themes are different.

The story is MUCH different.

The third act is VERY different.

The tone is vaguely different.

I mean what the fuck are you comparing to? "If I wanted to watch Solaris, I'd watch Solaris" What??? OKay, if I wanted to watch Solaris without the moral implications of loved ones coming back from the dead, an added plot about detonating a nuclear bomb in a sun, lots of self sacrificing, lots of shit about god and the sun, and then a supposedly dead crew member coming back all mutated to kill everyone...

Anyways, I liked the movie. The third act comes out of nowhere, and it's definitely not how I would've liked the story to go. That being said, at least it was well done. The computer telling Cillian Murphy there was an extra person on the ship creeped the shit out of me as well.
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post #43 of 61
5/14/08 at 1:00pm
Enjoyed the visuals (even if I didn't always know what I was looking at). Way more successful than MISSION TO MARS, but it did feel a bit like SOLARIS meets EVENT HORIZON meets SUPERNOVA, as others have said.

Had some tense moments and some decent acting. Not nearly as bad as I expected (based on WOM), and amazingly, I managed to go into it, spoiler-free. But similar to 2001, I can't quite say that I came away with a firm understanding of the message on 1st viewing.
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post #44 of 61
5/14/08 at 1:14pm
I'm not seeing the SOLARIS similarity either.
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post #45 of 61
5/14/08 at 3:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobClark View Post
I'm not seeing the SOLARIS similarity either.
For me, it just boils down to "outer space existentialism" genre. The reality/surreality aspects exist in both. Nothing more really (IMO).
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post #46 of 61
5/31/08 at 7:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lisey's DEATH View Post
SUNSHINE was fantastic in my opinion.

I liked how the psychologist was feeling the presence of God in the direct sunlight, but didn't know at first that he was feeling the power of God (he just knew that he liked it).

I liked the heroism of the Asian captain. Also the error that occurs seemed realistic to me. A simple error and all hell breaks loose... a very human type of error.

The three guys trying to blast through the air lock and get back to their ship was awsome. I was a little confused how space could be that cold so close to the sun, but maybe b/c they were on the shadow side?

The 3rd act ruled. There had to be a link between Icarus I and II, and I loved the way that guy was mutating from the direct sunlight. It was like the power of God was making him superhuman. I found this very interesting b/c I've often wondered if the sun is heaven, b/c man will never ever be able to get to it, lifegiving force, etc.

I loved the non-Hollywood ending. And the sun-damaged arm skin ripping off. Wild...

Why wasn't this film a hit? It was one of the best of it's year... Now it is a great hidden gem. I thought there would be some dumb happy ending, but this film stayed realistic right to the end.
Wow. This post is just riddled with disaster.

First off, the captain being asian is irrelevant.

Second, where on earth (or sun) you got "god" and "heaven" out of all of this I have no idea. The psychologist was going crazy, an easy irony.

Everything else was just you throwing in your own personal baggage.

But to each his own.
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post #47 of 61
6/1/08 at 1:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Earthfell View Post

Second, where on earth (or sun) you got "god" and "heaven" out of all of this I have no idea. The psychologist was going crazy, an easy irony.

Everything else was just you throwing in your own personal baggage.
Actually, in post #9, Gabriel Williams says he recalls hearing that there was tension between Garland and Boyle due to their differing spiritual views.

So I think there is some basis for positing the sun as either "God" or a facet of God's grandeur in the movie; obviously, easy irony of the shrink being the first to go a little crazy aside, staring into the face of the sort of power that is the Sun might cause many a reasonable person to have interesting reactions.
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post #48 of 61
6/1/08 at 1:51am
The notion of the sun as God was fairly explicit. The lunatic captain represented fundamentalist fanaticism: while the problems in the third act are directly tied to this attempt at allegory, I appreciated the effort, and overall found the film to be very good. I particularly liked the scene with Capt. Kaneda attempting to repair the broken shielding and falling into the solar wind.
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post #49 of 61
6/1/08 at 2:27am
If the captain had been a more ambiguous representation, instead of Super Crispy Cap 3000: The Psycho Edition, I'd be able to go along with that interpretation. If it was meant to represent something, then the allegory is half baked and half assed.
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post #50 of 61
6/1/08 at 3:21am
Yeah, it definitely appears that there was some behind the scenes conflict as to how to handle the insane captain. It might not be such a jarring transition if they had simply given him some clothes.
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