Sunshine
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.79 You Save: $8.19 (55%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.80 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Sunshine
Movie Review: this movie has become one of my science fiction favorites, and SF is what i generally own...
Summary: 5 Stars
i was initially drawn to it for three great film reasons - danny boyle, michelle yeoh, and cillian murphy (which goes without saying; he is amazing). cliff curtis, hiroyuki sanada, and rose byrne were also wonderful - there is not one bad cast member in this ensemble.
while the initial story seemed extremely far-fetched to me, since our sun is not the type of star that would 'go out', i decided to suspend disbelief and simply watch the film. the use of light and sound - both by boyle and the actors, particularly murphy and curtis - is what i found absolutely fascinating and is what kicks this movie past good into great for me. the portrayal and use of the sun, over and over, draws you in until you cannot wait to see how the film ends. boyle truly knew how to aim this movie to draw the viewer in by using the sun. you start to feel empathy with the astronauts/scientists and you want them to win; by the time they need to ensure the jumpstart bomb is deployed, you feel as if you are part of the experience.
i was able to let go of facts and enjoy the film - and short of the premise on why they were attempting to jumpstart the sun (ala 'the core' - i saw some vague parallels on the base concept), a lot of the science fiction elements held true to me for our potential 50 years in the future.
i was particularly impressed with how boyle used visual techniques for the captain of icarus I to enhance how seven years of solitude, closer to the sun than any human has ever been, slowly drove him away from his primary mission (which is why it failed) and focused that captain's energies towards more metaphysical issues - which not only drives the plot to the end, but boyle manages to keep the film from becoming too violently graphic, which impressed me. in that resepct, this movie is a very different experience from '28 days later', which i also liked, and proved to me that boyle knows what the script calls for.
i also highly recommend buying the DVD to watch it with the commentary on by dr. brian cox - he's great at explaining physics ideas simply without talking down to the listener, gave me a theoretical reason to believe the plot, and points out little touches that i didn't catch at first, but did after watching it again without the commentary.
you should buy this just for dr. cox's commentary - it made the film mean much more to me.
Movie Review: Claustrophobia breeds contempt
Summary: 5 Stars
The keystone to Sunshine is the fact that once you strip away the sci-fi coveralls the film is essentially about a handful of people under very extreme circumstances. The central problem with extended space travel is the fact that after a year shoved into close quarters on a space aged Winnebago everyone is going to hate the guy next to him. I think 2001 had it right where they froze half the crew and made certain the remaining two had zero personality.
Apparently the same psychiatrists who okayed Lisa Nowak also approved the unhinged crew of Icarus II, whose mission is to reignite the dying sun. The ships psychiatrist has an unusual obsession with being "enveloped" by the sun on the ship's observation deck, the ships botanist, played by Michelle Yeoh, has an unhealthy connection to plants, and the ships diametric young males, Capa (Cillian Murphy) and Mace (Chris Evans) get into a tussle without an apparent provocation. In their defense they've been living shoulder to shoulder for a few years now, and despite the inherent tension, each crew member acknowledges that everything else, especially their lives, is second to delivering the ship's payload to the sun's surface, thus reigniting our dying star and saving the human race.
As expected from a Danny Boyle film, sci-fi is used as a jumping board for some philosophical musings as well as some overwhelming visuals. The guys behind the CGI of Transformers should probably be ashamed of themselves after they see what can be accomplished with a fraction of the budget. Sunshine is absolutely gorgeous and takes full advantage of its location within the orbit of Mercury.
Fans of science fiction will be able to tell which parts have been cobbled together from movies past, but while this at times is a drawback, it's still incredible what Boyle can do within the confines of genre filmmaking. Those who are looking for a tense thriller in the vacuum of space will be satisfied and those who want something more cerebral will be able to rack their brains. Whether you're a fan of Alien or Solaris, Boyle's latest film should please not simply because it knows it's working in the shadow of both but because it fully understands what made those films work and connects the dots between both kinds of science fiction.
Movie Review: A wonderful film by Danny Boyle
Summary: 5 Stars
A wonderful film by Danny Boyle about a crew on a mission to detonate a nuclear device in the heart of the sun so as to reignite the dying son (which is ailling due to a que ball effect, a theory supported by avant garde theoritical physicsts). On their actions depends the fate of people on Earth who are right now facing a harsh winter which will go on forever if the crew does not suceed. They are the crew members of ICarus II, Icarus I having failed and being lost without completing its mission The movie is like the "alien" by Ridley Scott in terms of the look and feel of the movie. Icarus II gets unknown signals when near the sun and happens to finds Icarus I and the crew decide to dock with Icarus I, not for search of survivors which they dont expect, but as a means of getting the extra nuclear warheard onboard which if still functioning would serve as a backup if the one on IcarusII fails. Along their way to Icarus I, there develops a problem with the heat shields. After they dock with I, things go horribly wrong (wont tell you more). The mission gets it's first major setback at this point. After a while into the movie it's clear that Icarus II is now on a Kamikaze suicide mission with no escape. The IcarusII crew has lost people, oxygen and their bio farms aboard the space craft. After this point it's about plunging into the sun and exploding the bomb for the good of the Earth. The movie takes itself seriously, and not for a moment do you find the whole idea of this movie fully far fetched or farcical. The movie tries to be sincere and create the claustrophic mood of being alone in space. It also creates this "unknown mysteries of the space" kind of charming feel due to the visuals. The only place where the makers of the movie try not to stay true to facts is on the issue of sound effects in space. We hear the "whoosh" of the solar panels and rotating spacecraft equipment. There is no atmosphere in space and we should not be hearing any of this (as evidenced in "2001: space odyssey". But that apart a very good film. I always like to see Danny Boyle films. He never disappoints.
regards, Vikram
Movie Review: Must Watch
Summary: 5 Stars
Mind you, I'm not a reviewer. Don't have Siskel and Ebert skills and I
don't analyze things to death (like they sometimes did).
Look around and you won't see me commenting on many things. I mean, I
am a devoted (sp?) supporter of Firefly (the series) and Serenity (the
movie). Even then, I didn't comment. (well, sales should have said it
all...*grin*) So, I was expecting a "wanna-be" Bruce Willis movie ala
"Armagedden" (again, spelling). But, it was quite the thinking man's
(person's) movie. Why, might you ask? OK, I'll explain my theory about
heroes.
Say you have 100 men in a platoon told to assault a hill. They know
it's their duty. So they make the assault (and I'm assuming) and each
individual hopes there will not be a bullet with their name on it. (so
to speak) But, as war has shown us, people die and they are pronounced
heroes. To me, the bigger hero is one who knows he's (she's) going to
die and proceeds anyway. That's a hero! This movie shows us what a hero
is. What a human being is who isn't "hero" material. This movie raises
questions about what God allows and what (people think) God doesn't
allow. This movie successfully raises questions about the difficult
decisions humans have to make in a truly difficult situation.
While it's SciFi, it's loaded with moral questions. And, if the ending
doesn't make you "water up", then you need to take a fresh look all the
people who have died for causes so that others can live in a better
life.
This move was a pleasing surprise! Enough so to make me spend time
making a comment. You should give it a chance.
Movie Review: The Perfect Science-Fiction Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Nothing I write can get through how splendid this film is. It truly is a work of art, and I'm certain this is the best film of 2007. The plot is fairly easy to describe; it's 2057 and the Sun is fading. Hence, when the first spaceship, Icarus I, is sent out to deliver a reigniting "bomb" into the sun disappears en route, a second and final one, Icarus II is sent out for one final attempt. Onboard is a crew of eight under the leadership of a Japanese captain that looks exactly like I imagine the Japanese nobility of old to have been. The crew consists of Americans, Japanese, a Korean and an Indian. So in other words this is more or less the perfect Indo-European Faustian mission if I ever saw one. There is very little one can reveal without spoiling the movie for those that haven't seen it, but you'll just have to take my word for it how great a film this really is.
There is also a very strong religious tone to the film and the effects and imagery is simply breathtaking. I got goose bumps more times than I could count during this film. The film is worth a watch in itself for the images you will see, which I promise you you'll carry with you forever. You can really tell they have found much inspiration in another great film of the same genre; "Solaris". The soundtrack is also sublime, perfectly fitting in with the narrative of the film. There is also no miscegenation or any other unmoral acts in the film, so there is no reason at all to shy away from buying this film which carries more important messages than such a short review could possibly convey.
Recommended beyond words for anyone even remotely into adventure, science-fiction, horror, science or religion. Five stars plus!