Chris Campbell
Wolfville
Enigmatic Sci-Fi Thriller — 2 years ago
I’d been anticipating Sunshine for a while and wasn’t completely sure what to expect and at times the film had me off-balance (which I liked). I’ve enjoyed everything that Danny Boyle has done and this time he reworks the sf genre in a story that is mainly more philosophical science fiction with some thriller elements thrown in. The pacing and rhythms are different with the film and the constant presence of the sun is beautiful. It wasn’t until after the film that I really started to think about the effects as I just was thinking about the sun, which is a testament to seamlessness of the effects.
Cillian Murphy is great to watch as usual and there is a understated quality to much of the interaction and storytelling that I appreciated. While I wouldn’t say that it’s my favourite Danny Boyle film, it had some great touches and I kept thinking about it for days afterwards. It’s thoughtful sci-fi that doesn’t condescend, but does entertain and provide some things to think about.
Comments
Aug 07, 12:20PM
Chris Campbell
Wolfville
Do you really wonder if there is a cynical exec in Hollywood? I wonder if there non-cynical execs there…
I agree that a lot of recent films appropriate and rework imagery from classics, but I don’t see Sunshine as cynical or part of that trend. The most explicit nod to a recent film is through the name a character from the crew of Icarus 1 and it is from John Carpenter’s (I think) debut feature Dark Star If Sunshine was part of the cynical ripoff trend, there would have been bigger stars and more action in it. I admire it because it doesn’t completely work, but it took chances with the characters, the shooting and editing styles (with those wonderful flash frames from photos) and went in a few bold directions.
Aug 07, 01:47PM
Chris Campbell
Wolfville
Definitely lots of 2001 stuff. I didn’t mind it though as I think that the action and plot was really a way to explore the central idea of the film which is if you can do something, should you do it. It’s really about the moral choice of whether to play God (even if God exists or not) and the sf is a way to set up that question in an improbable way.
Other 2001 references:In looking at the trivia section of IMDB’s 2001 entry, a lot of the antenna being repaired, crewmember killed, mission sabotage parts were from a George Pal film called Conquest of Space.