Haiku-style review of Sunshine, courtesy of ghetto NetFlix:
Solar sailors
Nature versus madness
chopper then magic
I went and saw Sunshine in the cinema when it was released. I want to say it was at the Bellevue Galleria just before it shut down, but I might be thinking of when I saw “Children of Men” . I can attest that I was one of three people in the theatre, which is a pity, because intelligent sci-fi should be nurtured by the public, or at least sci-fi nerds other than me. I love sci-fi that’s immersive and imaginative that still manages to tell a story about people that you care about.
The first movie directed by Danny Boyle that I saw was “Shallow Grave” at the Auckland Film Festival. I loved it and have enjoyed all of the movies of his that I’ve seen since – Trainspotting, 28 Days Later.., Millions.
On the directors commentary, Boyle observes that there are three movies that form the sci-fi cannon, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Tarkovsky’s Solaris and Scott’s Alien. You may disagree about limiting yourself to three, but these are landmarks in their way. No one calls for Zardoz in these kinds of lists. I think my main problem with the story is that it tries to show science on the scale of 2001 (a project to revitalize the sun), the paranoia of Alien (a mad man on the loose) and a extra-normal experience (falling into the sun) and doesn’t quite make it.
It comes down to a weakness in the script. You should want to follow the characters. Instead it’s more of a “what are imaginative ways we can pick off the crew?”
Still I’d recommend it over Cloverfield any day of the week, faint praise though that is.
Great to see Cliff Curtis!