walkin' on the sun

[saavedra77]

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I agree with the Stranger reviewers about anything, but I thought Danny Boyle's Sunshine really does accomplish for the "space missions gone wrong" what 28 Days Later did for zombie flicks. At least as visually compelling as Solaris or 2001: A Space Odyssey, it has the added benefit of being much less sleep-inducing.

And, being in a generous mood, I'll forgive that final-reel nod to Ridley Scott's Alien.

Comments

[morganminstrel.livejournal.com]

I've been looking forward to seeing Sunshine for well over a year now (It was released in the UK, what, six months ago?), so it's good to hear it doesn't, y'know, suck. ;-) The big response I remember reading around the time the trailer was released was, "Wow, this actually looks like a science fiction movie. Not an action-adventure, not a weird comedy, but a thoughtful, interesting SF film." My big question is, does it deliver on that promise? (And, to be honest, I'd rather an answer from you than a critic because, you know, I trust you.) :-)

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

The filmmakers are definitely going for "a thoughtful, interesting SF film": I think that what they achieve is more like a thoughtful, interesting study of a small, isolated group of people in a desperate situation. The fact that they're in space is kind of incidental, the most profound way of isolating them, the mission to the sun about as dire and dangerous as could be undertaken. The main knock on the movie derives from a 20-minute sequence where it briefly takes on the haunted-house feel of the first Alien movie. There are some issues of plausibility that come up during that sequence which I unfortunately can't go into, here. But the movie as a whole is so astonishingly beautiful, and the overall thrust of the story so interesting, that I was prepared to forgive the digression. Hope that helps. :)

[morganminstrel.livejournal.com]

Hope that helps.

Definitely. Some of the best SF of the "modern" period deals more with human interaction (I'm a fan of LeGuin, so...) against a plausibly SF background, so it sounds like I'd still be very up for this. (Plus, I actually like the first Alien movie, so as long as the homagey part isn't too egregious, I'll probably enjoy that as well.)

Plus, my wife thinks Cillian Murphy is the hottest man this side of the Sun, so I suspect the Minstrel family will be seeing this sometime soon. ;-)

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

Like I said, I didn't "like" the boogeyman part, I "forgave" it due to my appreciation of other aspects of the film.

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

So you're against Volkswagens, now?

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, OK then.

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

Corny, I'll give you.