Review of Sunshine (2007) by Mcusr — 09 Feb 2015

Danny Boyle's films always sound great. He listens to music and has definitely been hanging out where the experimental music gets played, possibly on a certain site that shall remain nameless that is still free for citizens of his country, while most of the rest of the world got shunted over the paywall. Anyway he employs superb sound design including music/foley/ambience/everything. Sunshine's is the best of the three I've seen. To me all are collectible.

So I'm already hooked and love the film to bits whatever happens. Also really enjoy the juddery, schlocky editing. And the lean, impactful script. And Rose Byrne reading grocery lists if someone would commit that to film.

OK, the physics got preposterous and the baddie was boring, but the themes of love and sacrifice, courage in the face of death, reason vs superstition, leadership, democracy and justice, hope and action vs madness and entropy were compelling.

A few suggestions:

Colonel Kurtze, for example, was a more magnetic villain by dint of ponderous, inertial epicenter of horror stillness. Our villain here tended to rant histrionically, which might cause some viewers to glaze over.

Cillian safe millimetres from a wall of fission/sun fire and dipping his fingertips in leaped balletically over the shark, trailing tinsel and sequins. Perhaps a better shot might have had him suspended weightless in a twinkling constellation of scintillations in the payload, merging with its 'beauty' as he saw it.

But this director isn't much into restraint, so it's all told in superlatives. I'm OK with that. There was so much to love in this film that its few flaws are wholeheartedly forgiven.

Consider every shot of the ships- spectacularly beautiful-, the protection and the impediment presented by the pressure suits, the powerful physicality of the travails of the characters as they strive to survive and deliver.

Bring it on please. This and much much more of it, wondrous sci fi.