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Sunshine 
Actors : Cliff Curtis, Chipo Chung, Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada
Director : Danny Boyle
Studio : 20th Century Fox
by 20th Century Fox
Brand : TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Release Date : 2008-01-08
Publisher : 20th Century Fox
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 0024543444589
UPC : 024543444589
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 236 reviews)
List Price : $19.98
Our Price : $7.98
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Americancivilwar.com |
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A novel blend of doomsday thriller and meditative science fiction, Danny Boyle's Sunshine imagines a disturbing future in which mankind must re-ignite the sun or face total extinction. A team of scientists and crew members (played by an eclectic cast that includes Cillian Murphy from Boyle's 28 Days Later, The Fantastic Four's Chris Evans, Rose Byrne of TV's Damages, and martial-arts legend Michelle Yeoh) is dispatched to the dying star, but disaster strikes from almost every conceivable angle; as the crew is whittled down by accidents and psychological breaks, the survivors must discover a way to carry out the mission or seal the fate of the world's population. Alternately exciting and pensive, Sunshine's dichotomous tone may throw viewers expecting a special-effects bonanza (though the film's visuals are frequently stunning), but for those who recall such cerebral '70s efforts as Silent Running and Phase IV, Boyle's unusual take will be refreshing and even fascinating. The DVD includes commentaries by Boyle and Dr. Brian Cox, who served as the film's science advisor; Boyle also lends his voice to a brace of deleted scenes, including an alternate ending (which doesn't improve on the one used in the film). Thorough production diaries cover every aspect of the film's execution, from casting to special effects design, while a pair of unrelated short films by Chris Shepherd and Dan Arnold seems to be included only as a gesture of Boyle's appreciation for these directors. --Paul Gaita |
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Product Description |
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Fifty years into the future a team of astronauts are sent to deploy a device to reignite the dying sun.System Requirements:Running Time: 110 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/RACE AGAINST TIME Rating: R UPC: 024543444589 Manufacturer No: 2244458 |
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Smart Science Fiction with An Excellent Cast |
Among the reviews posted here, I see several complaints about unfavorable comparisons to "Event Horizon" and sci-fi disaster movies. While there are certainly some plot elements in common with "Event Horizon" and the general category of space disaster films, "Sunshine" belongs more to the genre of "2001: A Space Odyssey" than anything else. It's smart, character-driven science fiction - not a festival of explosions for their own sake, and I think it succeeds very, very well.
"Sunshine" has an excellent, if lesser-known-in-the-U.S. cast. (Although it's likely that viewers will recognize many of their faces, if not their names.) It's great to see Hiroyuki Sanada, Michelle Yeoh and Cliff Curtis all getting meatier roles than they usually receive and making the most out of the opportunity. Cillian Murphy and Rose Byrne are both quite good as well, but to me, the real surprise was Chris Evans, who, it seems, can actually act with some depth.
Visually, the movie is beautiful, and director Danny Boyle makes the sun a palpable presence in every scene. The indescribable power of our star and its effects on the human characters are major elements of the story, and it creates an atmosphere that is simultaneously beautiful, terrible and oppressive. The ending is a little more Hollywood than the rest of the movie, and "Sunshine" deserves a better finish. That said, the drop-off is only enough to my review from five stars to four, and I recommend it highly.
Fans of movies like "2001," "Outland," "Silent Running," "Alien" and the director's cut of "Blade Runner" (without the hand-you-the-plot-on-a-platter voice-over) are likely to enjoy "Sunshine." Viewers looking for purely passive entertainment and/or who prefer having everything explained explicitly will probably be less happy. Grade: A-. |
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"For seven years I spoke to God" |
It is the year 2057. The sun is about to peter-out in about 50years. A mission was sent seven years ago to reignite the sun; the ship disappeared. Now a new mission and last chance.
We are now introduced to the standard crew mix over the obligatory eating scene. The mission is reviled. We learn of each person's personality and quirks. And it takes a long slow time. (For people with Blu-ray you can fast-forward with sound on, it does not sound Mickey Mouse.) Soon we find the fate of the previous ship. We also suffer from an accident caused by miscalculation. Will these mishaps jeopardize the mission and the human fate?
The film is a tad slow probably by design and there are lots of flashy visuals. Many look like they ware borrowed from "Solaris" (2002.) The external accouterments aside, the film is a well formulated standard Sci-Fi with all the elements needed. We have each character meting his/her cuisses and how they deal or do not deal with it. There are moral and technical difficulties to deal with. The story has the "stay in the car" or "Don't open that!" feel. And of course the standard twists and turns with the surprise (supposed to be surprise) ending.
The whole film could have been and pretty much has been done in an hour or half hour episode of Star Trek. Not all Star Trek's had space monsters.
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The Blu-ray version has a couple of commentaries that make the movie a tad more attractive and the obligatory extras.
Dark Star ~ Director: John Carpenter |
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More than a pretty film |
Sunshine has a tremendous amount of visual appeal. In some ways it is the opposite of the original Alien film. That was dark and close and terrifying. This is bright and open and terrifying. In Alien the danger was from the unknown. In this film the dangers are from things that often comfort us, things we need for survival.
I really enjoyed the visuals, especially the ship design. It was also really a treat to see a film that was plot driven and that one of the main plot elements concerns the need to make a decision and the events that cascade from that. I thought the process the characters went through both to make the original call and then to deal with later events was interesting and certainly not absurd, as most films would have been.
Characters were fairly stock but had some good twists.
Well worth a watch, especially compared to many mindless things out there. |
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Disappointing, just a collage of ideas from Space Odyssey to Event Horizon, with little originality added |
I really did was expecting more from the film's Director, accordingly to the creativity and originality he showed off in Trainspotting and 28 Days Later (Widescreen Edition). Unfortunately, there is nothing special about this film, not surprisingly it didn't do well in the box office. The storyline is weak and the main plot is completely lacking originality, something goes wrong with the spaceship/hardware and the mission objectives get jeopardized and crew members begin to die.
Sunshine follows a very similar plot as any of the best modern sci-fi outer space movies, like a tidy collage. The realism, scientific accuracy, minute detail and slow pace of first half seem inspired in 2001 - A Space Odyssey and its 2010: The Year We Make Contact sequence, the 2002 version of Solaris, through Mission To Mars and Red Planet. The suspense and thrill presented in the second half of the film seem inspired in the sci-fi horror movies Alien (The Director's Cut) and Event Horizon, with short segments even feeling like déjà vu. The relaxing Earth room looks borrowed from the Star Trek Next Generation series. Also good old ingredients are present, a bit of philosophy, a bit of religion and spirituality, and the typical moral and ethical questions raised in all the outer space movies listed above.
One specific feature of Sunshine is the emphasis on the psychology of the characters, with a space crew made of very contrasting personalities, from the super rational alpha male engineer to the very emotional pilot female. For a space crew with a critical mission to safe all life on Earth, and in the context of a hard sci-fi movie, this lack of homogeneity looks weird, as it only appears to serve as a dramatic device at critical turning points of the plot. Despite this strong psychological characterization, nearing male-chauvinism, there are several inconsistencies, and the on near the end is particularly annoying, when one of the most rational crew members, the genius physicist, does not follow the most logical course of action, and by not warning the others right away, he unnecessarily puts in risk the mission and the life of his fellow crew members. Again, only for dramatic purposes such a behavior would make any sense.
Now, on the positive side, the film's technical quality is good; the space scenery is very realistic, the film takes full advantage of the capabilities of computer generated imagery (CGI). Flawless in the hard part of the science fiction, every detail regarding physics was well taken care of, even reproducing the auroras in the shadow part of the spaceship during repairs.
From the point of view of hard science fiction, the only really original segment of the movie is at the ending, regarding how relativity effects would have any consequence on the final task, as the stellar nuclear bomb-spaceship is accelerated by the Sun mass, taking it closer and closer to the speed of light. I found the choice very clever. However, never mind that no material on Earth would be able to support the ultra high plasma temperatures encountered when dipping into the Sun, nor the fact of any crew member surviving the crushing caused by the enormous acceleration, well, is science fiction after all.
A film recommended mainly for space buffs and sci-fi fans, particularly the ones who like the hard sci-fi genre. |
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"Good Day Sunshine" |
In the nearby future - 2057 to be precisely - the sun is dying. The only hope for mankind to survive is to ignite a gigantic atom-bomb in the core of the sun in order to rekindle her energy. The Icarus II is on her way to the sun to deliver her payload.
A few of the key-role players are Dr. Searle, a psychologist played by Cliff Curtis, Dr. Capa, a brilliant thirty year old physicist played by Cillian Murphy and the excellent Benedict Wong in the role of Dr. Trey the brilliant mathematician but responsible for huge problems with the Icarus II.
John Murphy and Underworld are responsible for the excellent and quiet electric guitar music.
The first thirty minutes are slow paced and maybe a little tedious, with an emphasis on brilliant special effects (one of the strongest points of this movie.) But after that the tension and drama are gradually build up to the dramatic end sequence.
It's one of the best SF-movies I ever saw. It can compete with "Space-Odyssey 2001", "Solaris", and "Alien".
For those who want more background information about the meaning of several scenes in the film, and are interested in astronomy and astrophysics, I would strongly suggest to play the movie a second time with the audio-commentary by the English physicist Dr. Brian Cox of the University of Manchester. |
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