Sunshine
by Danny Boyle
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DVD details
Actor: Cliff Curtis, Hiroyuki Sanada, Mark Strong, Paloma Baeza, Rose ByrneDirector: Danny Boyle
Brand: Fox
Cinematographer: Alwin Küchler
Composer: John Murphy
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
Published: 2008-01-01
DVD Release Date: 2008-01-08
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Product features:
- Languages: English, Spanish, French
- Subtitles: English, Spanish
- Deleted Scenes with Audio Commentary by Danny Boyle
- Alternate Ending, Audio Commentary by Director and Dr. Brian Cox (University of Manchester)
- Web Production Diaries, Two Short Films with Intro by Danny Boyle
DVD Reviews of Sunshine
DVD Review: Interesting Idea... Bad Science
Summary: 3 Stars
I picked this up on a recommendation of a friend of mine because he had said it was one of the best science fiction movies he had ever seen. Obviously by my rating, I wasn't as impressed, but I did find some merit within the smorgasbord of things that didn't make sense or were just plain incorrect.
Okay, this movie is probably one of the most scientifically incorrect films I've come across and it's not an old movie (based solely what's presented in the film). However, I realize that this a science fiction movie, so I'm going to check my scientific knowledge at the door and review the movie based on the story. For those of you wondering what in the world I'm talking about scientifically I'm going to wait till the end of the review and I'll lay it all out for you, who knows, maybe people will learn something.
The basic premise of the film is that the Sun is dying and in order to save humanity they need to reignite it. (This is primarily what's wrong scientifically, this will never happen in Earth's history as an inhabitable planet, but I will detail this out at the end.) So I took off my scientific knowledge cap and put on my outlandish incorrect story cap to pretend this was actually feasible, because it's quite obvious Boyle didn't really consult any scientific publications or even talk to a High School science teacher about this. (And before I get furious comments, I know about the Q-ball, just wait till the end.) Regardless, the story is as it is, so let's move on for the time being. So humanity developed this mega bomb to be put into the sun and hope that it would reignite the star, giving the Earth the life giving light. It's actually an interesting concept philosophically, making everyone beg the question what we would do without the sun. Earth obviously has been thrust into a major ice age freezing the planet solid. In this case I felt the cause and effect reactions were scientifically plausible.
So now that we have this huge bomb we need to fly it out to the Sun and essentially deliver the payload via special delivery system because it needs to go beyond the suns mantel when it explodes. (Not sure how realistic this actually is either.) A team of scientists developed this huge spaceship with special shields to fly out towards the Sun. However, we learn that this is the second of the space ships, Icarus II, and it was sent seven years later. The first mission was a failure. As they are approaching the Sun, Icarus II receives a distress signal from Icarus I. They end up deciding to investigate and maybe get two chances at this highly theoretical proposal of reigniting the sun. It turns out there is a survivor, obviously he's insane at this point, and also he is horribly burnt by the sun... I think. Anyway, this is where I start calling the movie "Event Horizon", which seems to be one of the main influences of this film. Sure there's some "2001 Space Odyssey" in there for good measure, and even a holodeck type of thing like we see in Star Trek: The Next Generation. But when the movie turns to a bit of a horror film thanks to this new revelation, I must say it is predominantly "Event Horizon" in nature. For the record I thought "Event Horizon" was brilliant, and also had its physics a bit better in concept and at least discussed them IN the film. I will say this about the incensed murderer, everything he says is awesome. It's like "Hellraiser" where whenever Pinhead opens his mouth it's always at the perfect time and he always delivers the perfect line. One part in particular is when the murderer says "For seven years I spoke with God, and he told me to deliver all of you to heaven." Okay, so he's not as good as Pinhead, but he kept me watching and waiting for his next comment!
The CG for this movie is excellent. I can't emphasize that enough. You really did feel like you were out there with the astronauts. I thought the acting was decent, not overly well done, but I enjoyed Cillian Murphy's character, though I thought he was a bit nonchalant about everything and that seemed a bit off... that's how he usually is in roles though. The philosophical aspects of the film were spectacular as well. Like what happens to humanity without the sun, and the killer clearly turning to thoughts of god zealously.
The main misgiving I have about this movie that is not scientific is that they never once explain the killer's background. Who is he? Why is he doing this? Why is he still alive!? Why is he all blurry when the camera is on him? It was pretty obvious that the Icarus I didn't look like it had been lived in, and the food wasn't eaten. The crew appeared to have committed suicide? Maybe. None of this is explained. You are left with SO many questions about this character that you start to wonder if Boyle is trying to be "in vogue", like Star Wars, releasing the second film first and later he will release the first. Maybe that's why he did this and didn't explain the character, I kind of hope he does make another film about this guy he seemed pretty cool from what I could tell. He's no Sam Niell from "Event Horizon" though, who played a very impressive bad guy in the end, but this guy ultimately got the job done.
So why did I find the science wrong? Well, first things first, in the commentary it mentions this theoretical object called a Q-Ball affecting our sun. Well, here's the big problem, it's in the commentary. Why do I need to watch the commentary to find out something as basic as this? This theoretical object SHOULD have been in the god forsaken movie. What kind of a writer seriously doesn't include this? And if it was deleted why would you delete it? It's kind of a fulcrum part of the plot. Maybe this will be explained in the Icarus I mission... if that ever turns into a film? See more questions, there were way too many questions from this film, and people aren't so stupid to just accept these things. After watching a film that didn't make much sense, I wasn't exactly compelled to watch the commentary or any other feature on the DVD, but I had to learn the existence of the Q-Ball from some conversations on Amazon. How pathetic can you get in terms of a story line, where the story makes sense only after you read Amazon? Either way, this concept is not well outlined.
As your watching this film with no knowledge of the Q-Ball in the Sun, you are left with your own pleasant thoughts about how impossible this is scientifically. The Sun isn't even supposed to die in this fashion. Oh and in an issue of Sky & Telescope they outline that the Earth really has about 100 million years left of inhabitable life on this planet. The Sun is continually growing hotter and hotter, but this takes billions of years to really happen, so we humans don't notice it in our day to day lives. What will eventually happen is the sun will grow so hot it will penetrate our atmosphere and eventually diminish the CO2 and make plant life impossible (no more photosynthesis), this does not bode well for animals that eat these things. After this things just go down hill. Furthermore Earth is in a veritable green zone of life right now, if this field gets pushed out we get too hot, or if it contracts we get too cold, either way it spells death for the planet. In "Sunshine" we're in the cold realm, just to point out the obvious. Anyway, as the Sun dies it will begin to grow and become a Red Giant, during this time it will literally consume Mercury, then Venus, and eventually earth. This process is in about a billion years from now, if I remember correctly. After a time in this state it will begin to shrink down again to a super hot White Dwarf star that doesn't emit as much luminance, then after another long stretch of time that power will eventually fizzle out and it will become a Black Dwarf and shine no more.
Now, when you include the Q-Ball explanation Sunshine becomes quite possible. My problem here is it's not really outlined in the movie in the first place. Who thought that was a good idea? Anyway, a Q-Ball is a highly theoretical concept at this time. From what I can find on it, we basically don't know a lot about them other than there is a math equation that proves they're possible in existence. Anyway, it's this highly dense piece of dark matter that is affecting the Sun's ability to process normally, at least that's what I've been able to gather, I haven't looked it up fully in depth, but I'll be looking for books on this now that I know what it is. It sounds vastly interesting. For the record I never watched the commentary, I purely looked this up on my own. I also had no idea this is even what the movie was supposed to really be about, thanks to the movies horrible ability at telling a story.
There you have it, that's my piece on this movie that is diametrically reviewed it appears. It does have its positives, namely the graphics, and some parts of the story line. But it's highly fragmented story line makes the movie hard to follow and thus hard to enjoy in total. I think it had an excellent premise at first, but throughout the film it really fizzles out and I even said to my friends when they introduced the main bad guy; "they better tell this guys story or I'm going to hate this movie." I didn't end up hating it, but the lack of his story really had an adverse affect on me. A lot of people rave about this movie for different reasons, but I can't help but look at it in total.
Description of Sunshine
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