i just finished watching sunshine for the first time and i have to say i loved it. the visuals, music, acting all perfect. the only thing that felt forced was the captain from the Icarus I coming back as a crazy burned up god-seeing killer. it just felt out of place, but i can overlook it because EVERYTHING else was awesome. thoughts?
sunshine
- Thread starter trekkier
- Start date
You should make a double feature with Babylon AD, two interesting often striking movies that fall apart with a final act that comes out of left field.
Man, you aren't kidding on Babylon AD. Once they reach the city the movie gets completely incomprehensible. And that ending! Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
Sunshine was overall good but it probably wasn't the best idea to take the first half of 2001 and tack on the last half of Event Horizon.
Ol Scratch
Lieutenant Commander
I hate to admit that every time I've tried to watch Sunshine I've fallen asleep way before they ever get to whatever this twist in the final act is. I still have no clue what it's about.
Makes me feel shallow every time I try. >.<
Makes me feel shallow every time I try. >.<
Yeah, I agree, except I can't overlook it because for me it ruined it. The last act turned what was an intriguing story into a horror movie, where the characters do stupid things to put themselves in jeopardy: "There's an unidentified life-form on the ship! I'll just go down there and check it out by myself..."
Me, too! Except I did finally wake up for the ending, so now it's just the middle I haven't seen!Yeah, "Sunshine" is a nearly-great sf movie with a crummy third act.
Given it's the same company that made "28 Days Later" and the sequel, having a good beginning and middle but a disappointing ending is becoming a pattern for them. It seams as if they come up with a good starting concept but have trouble with endings in general, since I believe the entire climax to 28 Days was completely altered at least once before shooting and re-edited again afterwards.
On the bright side they're making the new Judge Dredd film and a well cast and beautifully shot movie with 2/3rds of a good plot would be a HUGE improvement on the previous effort.
As for Sunshine, to be completely fair the whole "people go mad staring at the sun" thing was established in one of the earliest scenes.
On the bright side they're making the new Judge Dredd film and a well cast and beautifully shot movie with 2/3rds of a good plot would be a HUGE improvement on the previous effort.
As for Sunshine, to be completely fair the whole "people go mad staring at the sun" thing was established in one of the earliest scenes.
It's fascinating how often this movie (which is generally quite obscure) comes up in this forum. Clearly it affects a lot of sci-fi fans in that it's a very rare attempt to a "hard sci-fi" film inspired by 2001. It's like Boyle lost his will two-thirds of the way through and decided to make "Alien" instead.
Such a lost opportunity, which is why IMO people get so fired up about it.
Such a lost opportunity, which is why IMO people get so fired up about it.
You're not alone. Picked this movie up on a friend's recommendation about a month ago. Have not been able to get much than 30 minutes in before I am totally crashed down for the count asleep. Might just save this DVd for my next insomnia attack.
I watched this again a few weeks ago (3rd time, once at the cinema, twice on DVD) and really enjoyed it. I don't really care about "third act" thing anymore, and actually listening to the two commentaries (one by Danny Boyle & Alex Garland, and one by Dr Brian Cox) make me appreciate the film and its ending a lot more.
Yes it pretty much starts falling apart when they encounter the Icarus Captain and he starts going pyscho killing on them. It transformers from a really beautiful science fiction film into a needless slasher movie. The visuals, score, and acting were really great plus I loved the interior of the spaceship they used in the film. I have yet to view the special features or audio commentaries but plan on doing so in the near future along with a bunch of other stuff that I've yet to watch.
I'm in the minority here in thinking that it's one of the better SF films to come out this decade mostly for the first and middle parts and the last few minutes. Yes the Icarus I captain does take it down several notches but the beauty of the last moments makes up for it to me. It's one of those films whose images and scenes stayed with me long after I watched it.
To those comparing 'Sunshine' to 'Event Horizon': 'Sunshine' is a "hard" sci-fi movie that unfortunately leans on the horror crutch in the last 20 mins or so to prop up the final third of the film. 'Event Horizon' on the other hand is a fantasy sci-fi horror that happens to be set in space. Personally, Sam Neil's "comedy-scream-o-terror" and a few other moments take the film several notches below 'Sunshine' with it's only slightly dodgey acting moments.
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