- This movie is ridiculous. It’s like The Beach: In Space or something, where everything is all noble and everyone involved is helping to forge the dawn of a new era for mankind until something goes wrong and they eventually eat their own. I think I probably hate Alex Garland.
- The first two thirds of this movie were fine, if average. I liked how low-key it was and there seemed to be some attempt to be recreating the same sort of epic space aesthetic that people have come to associate with movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey (which is to say that even I associate it with that movie and I’ve only ever seen a few clips), but ultimately it was sort of empty and slightly soulless since I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters themselves nor was I terribly worried about the fate of planet Earth considering it was obvious from the outset that the mission was ultimately going to be a success, even if heavy losses would be sustained in the process.
- The last third? I tried not to laugh through the whole thing. Suddenly the movie was all Stanley Kubrick vs. Freddy Krueger and I just can’t understand why. I don’t know, even with science fiction there needs to be an internal logic as to how the science works and I have an incredibly hard time believing that Captain Crispy of the Icarus I managed to survive for seven years on that ship in the obviously critical medical state he was in. The fact that Cassie peeled off his skin and he didn’t so much as bat an eyelash just killed me. All that aside, the story itself was just so much more engaging when the crew were faced with innumerable things going wrong with their mission from a technical or scientific perspective; the sudden and completely random introduction of a pus-covered, God-fearing saboteur as the final wrench in their plans felt so completely unnecessary. I believe there’s a metaphor or an allegory wrapped up in there somewhere, but the whole final act is just too silly for me to bother extracting it.
- The oxygen garden reminded me of the Genesis Project from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- The special effects were good, especially the scene at the very end where they’re inside the payload and they’re in that zone that is so close to the sun, the computer couldn’t accurately predict what might happen. That was neat. Otherwise the visuals were okay, but not great. Truthfully, Michael Bay did this sort of thing so much better in Armageddon and, yes, I really hate that I just said that. Say what you want about Michael Bay, but the man has an incredibly strong sense of aesthetic and composition, so even if his story is complete and utter crap, his movie will still look pretty freaking brilliant.
- There were a lot of unintentionally cheesy lines, none of which I can remember now because I’ve blocked them from memory. If you’re going to go the route of cheese, go all out or go home. Again, I cite Armageddon and that guy who says to Liv Tyler “Requesting the permission to shake the hand of the daughter of the bravest man I’ve ever met.” Oh man, now that’s a killer line. The only thing that might be better is Ben Affleck yelling “HARRY, I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!” at sacrificial lamb Bruce Willis.
Sunshine
Lord of the Flies in space.
IMDB Plot Synopsis A team of astronauts are sent to re-ignite the dying sun 50 years into the future.