Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Sunshine / UK / 2007

With hints of influence from almost every great (and mediocre) sci-fi film from the last forty years — 2001, Solaris, Sphere, Mission to Mars, etc. — Danny Boyle’s Sunshine is a beautiful migraine. Perhaps I should have paid more attention in high-school science class—I was, scene after scene, forced to ask myself, “Is that even possible?” I know science fiction is concerned primarily with the intangible, forcing us to set aside our staunch thresholds of reality, and I’m fine with that. But Boyle’s film lacks even the simplest sliver of common sense. Somehow, the dead bodies of seven people coat an entire space station in dust. Somehow, simple wall insulation is a sufficient defense against ungodly space temperatures. And somehow, the eight astronauts entrusted to save six billion people are, for the most part, very young and very pretty. (If a collection of astronauts is ever forced to take on a mission such as this, I’d expect the physics expert aboard to be an academic juggernaut, one of those silver-haired masterminds who talks of tensor calculus in the same manner others talk of football or cars, rather than a Teen Choice Award nominee.)

With the notable exception of Chipo Chung, who appears in voice only, the acting herein ranges from average to awful. (Apprently, my future tax dollars will be used by NASA to school cadets in the delicate art of long, dramatic pauses.) And still, despite every conceivable reason not to, I wanted desperately to like this film. The first 90 minutes left me speechless, culminating in scenes of sheer terror: as four crewmembers of Icarus 2 explore the ruins of their predecessor, faces of the dead flash in mono-frames of red before our eyes; later, after their short excursion becomes a disaster, we are told there is an unintended new member of Icarus 2. But the last half-hour is an utter tragedy, and it feels like an act of desperation. Suddenly, the plot becomes wholly shameful, the astute cinematography is taken over by intended blurs and distortions, and the dialogue is reduced to clichéd sci-fi mumbles of “Finish it.”? I agree—just finish it.

by Adam Balz | Source: 35MM Theatrical Print
13 Aug 2007 2:35 PM | Submit Comment