Hey everybody, welcome to my second review!
As you can see, today's review is about the movie, Sunshine. It's a recent film and since I saw it a few days ago, I thought it would make a good review subject.
So..here goes.
So..here goes.
- First Look -
Sunshine brings us the story of Icarus II and its crew. In the year 2057 they're sent on a mission to save our dying Sun and thus saving all of Mankind along the way. They do this by traveling all the way to the Sun and then releasing a huge nuclear device that is supposed to revive it.
Of course, by now, you must be thinking one thing: if there's a Icarus II that means that there was a Icarus I at some point, right? Right! Icarus I was the predecessor of the Icarus II, with the exact same mission, but that mysteriously disappeared without a trace 7 years before the Icarus II mission.
So, as Icarus II approaches the Sun and radio contact with Earth starts disappearing, the crew discover a distress beacon that is identified as being from the Icarus I. Ignoring their primary mission objective they set out on trying to salvage what they can from the dead vessel and look for possible survivors. From there on, the crew and the ship itself are victim to a series of unfortunate accidents leading them to believe that not everything is a coincidence.
Of course, by now, you must be thinking one thing: if there's a Icarus II that means that there was a Icarus I at some point, right? Right! Icarus I was the predecessor of the Icarus II, with the exact same mission, but that mysteriously disappeared without a trace 7 years before the Icarus II mission.
So, as Icarus II approaches the Sun and radio contact with Earth starts disappearing, the crew discover a distress beacon that is identified as being from the Icarus I. Ignoring their primary mission objective they set out on trying to salvage what they can from the dead vessel and look for possible survivors. From there on, the crew and the ship itself are victim to a series of unfortunate accidents leading them to believe that not everything is a coincidence.
- Plot/Storyline -
Well, this save the world from a natural disaster or apocalyptic event isn't something new in Hollywood, so, having an original storyline with this kind of premise is quite hard, if not impossible at all and I say this because all these kind of films are all very similar. If it's not a comet then it's a meteorological catastrophe wiping out Mankind but basically the way the story is told and even certain events are all very similar (and sometimes equal) in all, or most of, these kind of movies. Unfortunately it isn't Sunshine that's going to break this trend but, from what it looks like, it tries.
There's also one thing that, in my point of view, shreds away all the efforts of breaking the trend like I said before. It's the fact that, as a Sci-fi thriller Sunshine looks too much like Event Horizon (a 1997 Sci-fi thriller). Even though Sunshine doesn't show a big "horror streak" as Event Horizon does, the similarities between the two movies, and more particularly, between the two stories are enormous and undeniable. A lot of things you see in Event Horizon you also see in Sunshine like the dead vessel floating in space and the villain in Sunshine looks and acts like the villain in Event Horizon. And there's a lot more examples like these.
Even if we turn a blind eye to the similarities between the two movies, we can find the story to be very predictable. Nothing surprising if you remember what I said earlier about Sunshine not breaking the trend. And trust me when I say it's predictable, anybody who's seen one or two movies in the same genre will now everything that'll happen in Sunshine.
Sunshine tries to show the psychological charge the crew members are under and it wouldn't be a bad idea but, unfortunately, it isn't done very well.
So, basically, it all comes down to something I've saying from the beginning, the lack of originality plagues Sunshine's story.
Even if we turn a blind eye to the similarities between the two movies, we can find the story to be very predictable. Nothing surprising if you remember what I said earlier about Sunshine not breaking the trend. And trust me when I say it's predictable, anybody who's seen one or two movies in the same genre will now everything that'll happen in Sunshine.
Sunshine tries to show the psychological charge the crew members are under and it wouldn't be a bad idea but, unfortunately, it isn't done very well.
So, basically, it all comes down to something I've saying from the beginning, the lack of originality plagues Sunshine's story.
- CGI -
As one would expect in this kind of movie, the CGI's something extremely important to the movie.
All I can say about the CGI in this film is that it's good, it does its job perfectly and provides this film with beautiful images, like the images of the Sun.
Even so, there's nothing really outstanding about the CGI in Sunshine as far as I know, so, there's not much else to say.
- Soundtrack -
All I can say about the CGI in this film is that it's good, it does its job perfectly and provides this film with beautiful images, like the images of the Sun.
Even so, there's nothing really outstanding about the CGI in Sunshine as far as I know, so, there's not much else to say.
- Soundtrack -
For me, the soundtrack, is one of the best things this movie has to offer to anyone who sees it. Sometimes you don't even notice it, which can be a good thing, but when you notice it you'll see that is actually pretty good. And it does was it was made for, helps setting in the mood and, it creates an atmosphere needed not only by the fact that all the action goes on in deep space but also by the fact that this movie is, and let's not forget, a thriller.
I think the music it really fits the kind of movie Sunshine is. I can't really explain it with words, and probably a lot of people will disagree with me, but I think it really fits the movie.
I think the music it really fits the kind of movie Sunshine is. I can't really explain it with words, and probably a lot of people will disagree with me, but I think it really fits the movie.
- Overview -
So, what to make of this movie? Let's see what we've got. We have a unoriginal story backed up by some cool CGI and a good soundtrack. Can I consider this a good movie? No, not really.
Even though special effects and soundtrack are two important aspects of a movie, for me, a story is the backbone of it all. And that's exactly what this movie lacks...a story. All Sunshine has is a bad and slightly altered copy of Event Horizon's story.
Even though special effects and soundtrack are two important aspects of a movie, for me, a story is the backbone of it all. And that's exactly what this movie lacks...a story. All Sunshine has is a bad and slightly altered copy of Event Horizon's story.
It's not only story that Sunshine lacks there's also the "little" things that, for me, sometimes differentiates a good movie from a great movie. In this case it it differentiates a good movie from a average movie, and that's what Sunshine is...average.
I'd like to mention the controversial space jump that 3 crew members make, where two of them have no suit on and one of them survives.
From what I've read, it looks like it's not really impossible to survive, it's just improbable since you only have a window of few seconds to reach safety and survive. There's also some mistakes with that sequence, but I'm not even going into that because I'm no scientist.
The thing that really bothers me in this film, almost as much as the lack of original story, is the fact that in this movie, at some point, you get the feeling that dying from extreme sunburns is something beautiful and almost poetic. And this is caused by the obsessions that some crew members have about the Sun and theories that relate the Sun with God and that being engulfed in pure light is a kind of an outer body experience (even though, to me, being engulfed in direct sunlight at a "few" hundreds of thousands of kilometers from the Sun itself shouldn't be called an outer body experience...it should be called a barbecue instead). And trust me when I that there's a lot of blatant examples of this during the movie.
In conclusion, Sunshine is the kind of film that's worth seeing if you don't have anything better to do or to see.
In other words, it's good to pass the time and nothing else.
I'd like to mention the controversial space jump that 3 crew members make, where two of them have no suit on and one of them survives.
From what I've read, it looks like it's not really impossible to survive, it's just improbable since you only have a window of few seconds to reach safety and survive. There's also some mistakes with that sequence, but I'm not even going into that because I'm no scientist.
The thing that really bothers me in this film, almost as much as the lack of original story, is the fact that in this movie, at some point, you get the feeling that dying from extreme sunburns is something beautiful and almost poetic. And this is caused by the obsessions that some crew members have about the Sun and theories that relate the Sun with God and that being engulfed in pure light is a kind of an outer body experience (even though, to me, being engulfed in direct sunlight at a "few" hundreds of thousands of kilometers from the Sun itself shouldn't be called an outer body experience...it should be called a barbecue instead). And trust me when I that there's a lot of blatant examples of this during the movie.
In conclusion, Sunshine is the kind of film that's worth seeing if you don't have anything better to do or to see.
In other words, it's good to pass the time and nothing else.
- Rating -
Ironically, this movie is similar to the Sun...it's kinda cool to look at it but don't stare for too long or you'll get permanent damage.
Sunshine will have two different values regarding two different ratings. One is my rating if I pretend I never saw Event Horizon and the other is my rating regarding the fact that I did saw it.
So, if I pretend I never saw Event Horizon, I give Sunshine a 6.
If I'm honest with myself and admit that I did saw Event Horizon, well, I give Sunshine a mere 5.
Before I go, I'd like to apologize for taking this long to write this second review, but I've been sort of busy these past few days.And, for the time being, I work alone so I can only expect to write 2, 3...maybe 4 (if I'm lucky) reviews a week. So I hope you'll all understand.
See ya.
Sunshine will have two different values regarding two different ratings. One is my rating if I pretend I never saw Event Horizon and the other is my rating regarding the fact that I did saw it.
So, if I pretend I never saw Event Horizon, I give Sunshine a 6.
If I'm honest with myself and admit that I did saw Event Horizon, well, I give Sunshine a mere 5.
Before I go, I'd like to apologize for taking this long to write this second review, but I've been sort of busy these past few days.And, for the time being, I work alone so I can only expect to write 2, 3...maybe 4 (if I'm lucky) reviews a week. So I hope you'll all understand.
See ya.
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