Ok, so proper review of Sunshine (2007) because I promised (mostly myself, but that's beyond the point)
There are gonna be spoiler under the cut, so read on your own risk.
So, Sunshine is a movie set in the (near) future. Our sun is dying and so are we. A group of astronauts and scientists travel to the sun with the biggest bomb ever made, trying to restart the sun with the energy of the impact, trying to create a star within a star, all of it happening on a ship called the Icarus II.
That's right, II. They weren't the first. Seven years ago, there was another attempt of this mission, but it failed for unknown reasons you later find out (and they are NOT good), so this proves it is not without risk. But I think traveling towards the sun while using a huge bomb as a shield against the heat speaks for itself.
First of all, let me say this movie was directed by Danny Boyle and he is by far one of my favorite directors of all time. He proved himself with 28 Days Later to me and did it again this time. He was able to create the exact same atmosphere, one that is uncommon but not unpleasant. Boyle doesn't underestimate the intelligence of his audience, and drops you right in the middle of the story. They've already reached the sun, and aside from the fact it's dying and they're traveling a bomb to it, you know nothing about it. All the information you gather along the way, making the journey more detailed, is sublte, and I love that. There's not some forced explanation about what's going on, and that makes it all the more realistic.
Instead Boyle focuses on establshing other things in the movie; like the dynamics of the characters and their relationship with each other. After such a long time on the same ship with each other, those dynamics of course start to crumble. Now, truth given where truth is needed; the characters don't get a very proper introduction to decipher their personalities, but they provided information about the characters aside from the movie? Like Harvey had a wife and kids waiting for him back home, which is why he wanted to return so badly, and Cassie had an abortion which is why she was so against taking Trey's life? See, I love stuff like that. Establishes their personalities so much better and more strong.
Of course, dealing with a select group, trying to hold onto their morals when their lives in actuality don't even matter, out alone in space brings its fair share of defying and breaking their moral codes, and they do it brilliantly. There are certain issues that are brought up, like how powerful the leader needs to be and what to do without one, and how would the crew feel about taking a life if ensuring completing the mission. These aspects, in my opinion, could have been way longer, but it was of course a movie and not a series. Doyle did the best he could with the time he had and man did he deliver. I loved the way these matters were handled, even though it sometimes felt brief.
As the story progresses you get the idea the genre of the movie changes. It is, of course, science fiction, but early in the movie you suspect it'll be a thriller along the way. It's suspense-packed, so you're right about that. Further on it developes into a full blast horror and three survivors are trapped on a ship with a bloody monster.
There's nothing I dislike about this movie. The cast is brilliant, the cinematography is good, the soundtrack is bloody brilliant. That mpment when Capa stand ready to take the jump that'll define earth's fate you know it is. If you didn't pause to yourself at that moment and went "Hey, this soundtrack is really good." you really didn't get the whole experience.
Though I'm a huge fan of Cillian Murphy (he was Boyle's biggest muse at the time, of course he'd take the lead) and I loved loved loved his character, Mace, played by Chris Evans, blew me away. He was so goddamn devoted to the mission, most out of all the characters. And there were times I couldn't stand him, trust me. He didn't like Robert, Cillian's character, which of course made me biased and the time he risked Capa's life even though he was the one that needed to survive until the very end pissed me off because that's just bloody dumb. You know the risk you're taking, why the hell would you risk your physicist? But, Mace turne to be extremely devoted to the cause, freezing himself to death just so Capa could have his chance of bombing the sun. That's what takes a great character. I liked him, though not every bit of him. That made him feel so much more real.
The ending, in my opinion, was really good. No one survuves, they all give their lives for the greater good. That fucker Pinbacker gets seared with everyone else so I was relieved, because damn, that man/monster scared me.
I like the touch that you actually see the world almost freezing to death, and the sun restarting. You see Robert's sister, receiving his last message to her, and she'll probably won't know he'd dead until a few years later. And it's not too emotional in the film, but if you grasp the tradegy behind it (even though Robert wanted it this way), it's pretty heart-wrenching.
The only gripe I have about this movie was how it was promoted, and that was badly. Danny Boyle went with his infamous 28 Days Later approach, which went totally global and became a huge indie hit. But obviously, this budget and cast was way larger, and I tihnk it deserved way more recognition. See, Boyle's approach wasn't exactly waterproof, and he took a huge risk giving it the same approach as his zombie hit. This isn't a zombie movie. This worked out differently. And that's a shame, because I tihnk a lot of people should know about Sunshine than it's current number. It honestly blew me away a bit, and I know Í've just watched a good movie when that happens.
This makes me never want to move to Illinois or if I do evade taxes.
"Illinois has a total state debt of $120,743,173,392 when calculated by adding the total of outstanding debt, pension and OPEB UAAL’s, unemployment trust funds and the 2010 budget gap as of July 2010."
This is bad especially when you consider the mess that California is in. "Illinois' financial situation is worse than any other state in the country according to a study by the National Conference of State Legislatures."
So I got this from the site Sunshine Review. It isnt a Libertarian site, but it is all about transparency and open government so not the hardest message for Libertarians to get behind. They provide a lot of information, a very good research tool. Check them out.
