Sunshine and The Cinematic Experience
Sunshine, a sci-fi epic, directed by Danny Boyle, about a team of scientists sent on a mission to reignite a dying sun, is neither a mindless Michael Bay extravaganza nor a chin-strokey affair in the vein of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris. It’s the cinematic oxymoron many of us have been waiting for: the thinking man’s action movie. It also happens to be gobsmackingly stunning, ruthlessly intense, handsomely cast and blessed with a 100% INSANE last act that won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but had yours truly grinning from ear to ear. Danny Boyle’s Sunshine is a spectacle quite impossible to put into words, and that’s exactly what makes it brilliant cinema–albeit the kind that’s difficult to defend on theoretical grounds.
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Read the rest of this (spoiler-free) article on The House Next Door. Yes, you heard me. Go on now!
Yeah, it was great– except for the utter lack of characterization, logic, intelligent action, comprehensible editing, and direction, and that ridiculous [deleted]. I’ll say it’s “impossible to defend”: it’s utter junk. But if you’re in it for the mindless spectacle– and what good Catholic isn’t?– then it’s definitely one not to miss. I consider myself a “thinking” person, and I thought “Sunshine” was trash. “Ruthlessly intense”? Only if your idea of “ruthlessly intense” equals “one ruthlessly stupid mistake after another, topped off with a ridiculous plot twist.” Take the “oxy” off that “moron,” add a trailing “-ic,” and let’s see “Sunshine” for what it really is, okay?
Geez, Doug. You sure that wasn’t Space Balls or Armageddon you saw?
Relax, man–it’s only somebody’s opinion. And for your information: I’m an agnost.
sheesh. SOMEBODY got out of bed on the wrong side this morning. hehe
Peet,
Just remove the response from Doug… it’s polluting your blog.
Don’t worry, Syb. I have today’s Al Gore cartoon to take care of the pollution. 😉
i am beyond excited to see this movie – i’m a huge boyle fan (even the beach is beautifully filmed), and the cast looks excellent.
can’t wait to see this!
I found Sunshine visually stunning but not much else. There are a number of contrivances that are set up at the start that I didn’t like but could overlook by suspending disbelief, but then the whole thing fell over like a house of cards. Those flaws then stood out as we say sometimes in Australia, “like dog’s balls”.
Without going into the last act, for those like Phil who haven’t seen it, the characterisations were too much like a TV reality show, like say Big Brother or Lost. The editing was atrocious and spoiled the visuals that had been so nicely set up throughout the start and middle.
Personally, I liked Children of Men which was vastly superior, though not without flaws of its own. Soderberg’s Solaris and Aronofsky’s The Fountain were also much better.
No, I refuse to read about “Sunshine”…not until I see the movie. There’s something inherently evil about releasing an article so far in advance of the actual release date. I love what Mr. Boyle did with the zombie/horror genre, I can’t wait to see what he does with the sci-fi. Hopefully it will be better than Soderbergh’s lame reouting of “Solaris” and the so-so hit you over the dead abstraction of “The Fountain”. If Mr. Boyle can’t, it’ll be a hard time finding someone that can. “Children of Men” is the closest I’ve seen to correctly making this genre intelligent and entertaining again.
Sorry, Philip: Sunshine came out in Holland quite a while ago. It’s still my favorite film experience of the year (next to a superb little Danish film called Adam’s Apples).
FYI: The article is spoiler-free…