Sunshine

I would like to shortcut this review to say that in actuality, it is the greatest movie ever made, due to the fact that one of the pivotal characters is named “Capt. Pinbacker”. Case closed. FIVE STARS.

But were this an actual review, it would go something like:

Every review you will read of this movie says “the first two thirds are wonderful and beautiful, and then it takes a horrible misstep and fumbled into stupidity and incomprehensibility.” This will likely be your, the reader’s, opinion. There are two alternate arguments which you might make, which would be:

B. The first two thirds are wonderful and beautiful, and then it takes an intriguing turn into mystery and symbolicism.

C. The first two thirds are wonderful and beautiful, and then it gets stupid and incomprehensible, but by that point I didn’t care cuz it was still way cool.

I would probably put myself in the “C” category, though there’s surely plenty to discuss about what actually, you know, “happens” in the last act. It’s hard to make a case for anything that sounds coherent, but whatever.

The running theme, though, is that regardless of what you think of the ending, the first two thirds ARE wonderful and beautiful. What else they are is essentially a remake of every science fiction movie ever made. Let’s see, without giving any real spoilers away:

– 2001: Spaceship run by a computer which talks, and whose voice gets low when you unplug it.

– Event Horizon: Spooky ship travels long way to discover ghastly secrets.

– Alien: Ship with a bunch of goofballs on it, and cool-looking interiors.

– Dark Star: There is no WAY that this movie is not a direct homage to Dark Star. The movie is about a ship whose job it is to drop a bomb on a star (the Sun, in this case) to stabilize it. Which is exactly the premise of Dark Star, AND as previously mentioned, one of the characters is named “PINBACKER”. Alright?

– 2010: Ship finds the abandoned remains of a previous excursion, hilarity ensues.

– Every other science fiction movie ever made: Like I said.

When I reviewed Event Horizon, I made mention of the fact that regardless how much the movie sucked (which it did, very much) I was going to like it because I dig movies about big weird spaceships venturing out into the unknown. Nothing about that has changed in the ten years that have passed hence. When I saw the trailer for Sunshine, I said, “it looks like it’s trying to be a GOOD version of Event Horizon.”

So that’s basically my review. It’s a good (very good) version of Event Horizon. Actually, it’s a good version of all of the movies mentioned above, which it copies gives artistic nods to.

So, that’s fine. If the last part pisses you off, then just forget about it. It’s still a fine, fine movie, and the best of its type we’ve seen in a long, LONG while.

THREE AND A HALF STARS

I am curious, though, if we’ll ever see a movie set in outer space on spaceships which doesn’t make a single mention (or set piece) out of an airlock.

(…that wasn’t set in a galaxy far far away.)