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tencrushTHEY JUST DON'T MAKE SCI-FI LIKE THEY USED TO. Except when Danny Boyle totally does. Yeah... so I watched Sunshine again, and did indeed come to the conclusion that it is the most underrated and one of the very best sci-fi films of the past decade, or perhaps even longer. Yeah, even with the ending.
I forget sometimes that sci-fi wasn't always all camp Starship Troopers or aged action heroes punching meteors in the face. Sometimes it was clever and philosophical and character driven and made you think. And beautiful as fuck. Sunshine is all of those things, trust me.
HERE COMES THE SUN
Man this movie has some beautiful imagery in it. There's that blue grey interior of the ship, drab and angular and eerily silent, set against that relentless, pulsating orange giant of a star with its roaring white noise of eternal fire, either just outside, around a corner, through a visor, behind the shield, sometimes hinted at, sometimes entering the frame like a sunrise, and sometimes just filling the screen, blinding you. It's absolutely gorgeous. I mean it, this is a beautiful, atmospheric space movie, no hyperdrives or stars zooming by, just... space. And the sun, always the sun.
NOTHING CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG
I love how Sunshine plays with every tense sci-fi thriller trope in the book. The minute you see this picture, you're immediately trying to guess which one of them will lose it in the lonely vacuum of space and kill everyone else. While you're still thinking about that, Mace punches Capa in the face and you realise Mace is the surly mechanic with a short fuse and it must, therefore, be him. Except then Searle turns out to be Having a Religious Experience regarding the sun, and you change your mind because it must be Searle who will flip out. But, wait, Trey fucks everything up and Blames Himself for stuff and maybe he's suicidal and will be their downfall. Unless it's that benevolent sounding but possibly malicious onboard computer, Icarus. They're always bad news. Oh no, wait, Harvey's a self-serving coward, it's him. Until the controversial third act reveal, you're left constantly guessing, and constantly having your expectations confounded by the events and characters. In as much as the characters have any... characterisation. Mace likes crashing waves. Capa has a sister. That's it. There's nothing else. We join these people so far into their journey that they are absolutely done with the conversational niceties. There is no more of that introductory "bet they didn't teach you this when you were top of your class at the academy" expositional bullshit you kind of expect from a film like this. There are no fondly cherished pictures of wives and children, there are no stories of What We Miss About Earth. When Mace lashes out at Capa he even asks Searle if he wants him to tell him about his childhood. "I probably know more about your childhood than you do." End of backstory. It's slightly disconcerting, being given NOTHING to go on about these people apart what they are saying and doing right now, on the screen, but at the same time it's fascinating trying to figure them out. Are Cassie and Capa a thing? We don't know... we don't really find out, it turns out it's not really important in the scheme of things. We're not going to give you anything to go on. Deal with it.
IT'S GUY LOVE BETWEEN TWO GUYS
Did I say this was a buddy movie? It becomes kind of apparent in the first act that the final act will hinge on Mace and Capa. In fact, the whole film seems to center around their shifting relationship. We have the first act, there's a punch up, an apology, but then Capa has to make the tough call and Mace obviously thinks it's the wrong decision. Mace blames Capa for everything that happens afterwards, he "volunteers" Capa for the space walk, pretty much purely out of spite. Then we have the second act, with Mace, again volunteering Capa for the space walk, but this time because Capa is higher priority, Mace is nothing if not pragmatic, and he already knows this is now a suicide mission, he accepted that when they lost the oxygen garden. He'll probably die, but that's not really a concern. He doesn't die, through sheer luck, and we're left in the third act with the two of them, and the girls. My problem with the third act isn't really so much the reveal that Pinbacker's on the ship, it's actually more to do with the way the two ladies seem to lose all their agency and turn into canon fodder. I digress. The third act again culminates in Capa donning a suit and going on a space walk, or hurl, towards the payload. This time, Mace isn't just telling him, he's ordering him to do it, ultimately sacrificing himself to make it possible for Capa to finish the job. Oh, these two, what a fucking odd couple they make. No wonder there's slash about them. Everything about their interactions is fascinating, and so, so well executed. I love them both. Bonus points for Mace's Manpology to Capa at the beginning of the film. Best Manpology ever, and template for all their interactions from then on in.
IS THIS MACE BEING META?
Then we have the Pinbacker thing. So sue me, I kind of like the Pinbacker thing. Mace, again, is the reason why. He's so pragmatic, but it's not just his sensible, down-to-earth approach to the mission, it's the fact that Mace, at some point in the first act, seems to go meta on your ass. First, he realises. like the audience does, before anyone else does, that they are truly fucked, they are not going back, this is a one-way mission into the sun. It's like he's seen this kind of movie before, and he knows it will end horribly, his only concern from then on in, is to succeed in launching the payload. His reaction to Pinbacker's message has the same tone to it, does anyone know what this is about, because this isn't the movie I signed up for, this is one of those movies where the captain goes space crazy and kills everyone on board. Mace's meta takes a direct tone when he addresses Capa back on the Icarus 2, "What are you trying to remind us of, our lost humanity?" Give me a fucking break, man. See, the way I see it, the story of what happened on the Icarus 1, the loneliness of deep space, the whacked out captain seeing God, the lost humanity and the inevitable horrible deaths, that story is a movie we've all seen before, it's exactly the story we were expecting from the outset, and in a way, Mace is us, he's braced himself for that outcome too, it just happens to play out in a completely unexpected way. That movie we were expecting has already happened on a different ship, and now it's attacking this movie, and, well... everyone dies anyway. I love it.
Am I overthinking Sunshine? Probably, I do have that tendency, but man, I think it's a classic. I think it's a must see sci-fi film for anyone who even vaguely knows sci-fi films.
Also, Chris Evans is in it. Chris Evans is hot.
I forget sometimes that sci-fi wasn't always all camp Starship Troopers or aged action heroes punching meteors in the face. Sometimes it was clever and philosophical and character driven and made you think. And beautiful as fuck. Sunshine is all of those things, trust me.
HERE COMES THE SUN
Man this movie has some beautiful imagery in it. There's that blue grey interior of the ship, drab and angular and eerily silent, set against that relentless, pulsating orange giant of a star with its roaring white noise of eternal fire, either just outside, around a corner, through a visor, behind the shield, sometimes hinted at, sometimes entering the frame like a sunrise, and sometimes just filling the screen, blinding you. It's absolutely gorgeous. I mean it, this is a beautiful, atmospheric space movie, no hyperdrives or stars zooming by, just... space. And the sun, always the sun.
NOTHING CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG
I love how Sunshine plays with every tense sci-fi thriller trope in the book. The minute you see this picture, you're immediately trying to guess which one of them will lose it in the lonely vacuum of space and kill everyone else. While you're still thinking about that, Mace punches Capa in the face and you realise Mace is the surly mechanic with a short fuse and it must, therefore, be him. Except then Searle turns out to be Having a Religious Experience regarding the sun, and you change your mind because it must be Searle who will flip out. But, wait, Trey fucks everything up and Blames Himself for stuff and maybe he's suicidal and will be their downfall. Unless it's that benevolent sounding but possibly malicious onboard computer, Icarus. They're always bad news. Oh no, wait, Harvey's a self-serving coward, it's him. Until the controversial third act reveal, you're left constantly guessing, and constantly having your expectations confounded by the events and characters. In as much as the characters have any... characterisation. Mace likes crashing waves. Capa has a sister. That's it. There's nothing else. We join these people so far into their journey that they are absolutely done with the conversational niceties. There is no more of that introductory "bet they didn't teach you this when you were top of your class at the academy" expositional bullshit you kind of expect from a film like this. There are no fondly cherished pictures of wives and children, there are no stories of What We Miss About Earth. When Mace lashes out at Capa he even asks Searle if he wants him to tell him about his childhood. "I probably know more about your childhood than you do." End of backstory. It's slightly disconcerting, being given NOTHING to go on about these people apart what they are saying and doing right now, on the screen, but at the same time it's fascinating trying to figure them out. Are Cassie and Capa a thing? We don't know... we don't really find out, it turns out it's not really important in the scheme of things. We're not going to give you anything to go on. Deal with it.
IT'S GUY LOVE BETWEEN TWO GUYS
Did I say this was a buddy movie? It becomes kind of apparent in the first act that the final act will hinge on Mace and Capa. In fact, the whole film seems to center around their shifting relationship. We have the first act, there's a punch up, an apology, but then Capa has to make the tough call and Mace obviously thinks it's the wrong decision. Mace blames Capa for everything that happens afterwards, he "volunteers" Capa for the space walk, pretty much purely out of spite. Then we have the second act, with Mace, again volunteering Capa for the space walk, but this time because Capa is higher priority, Mace is nothing if not pragmatic, and he already knows this is now a suicide mission, he accepted that when they lost the oxygen garden. He'll probably die, but that's not really a concern. He doesn't die, through sheer luck, and we're left in the third act with the two of them, and the girls. My problem with the third act isn't really so much the reveal that Pinbacker's on the ship, it's actually more to do with the way the two ladies seem to lose all their agency and turn into canon fodder. I digress. The third act again culminates in Capa donning a suit and going on a space walk, or hurl, towards the payload. This time, Mace isn't just telling him, he's ordering him to do it, ultimately sacrificing himself to make it possible for Capa to finish the job. Oh, these two, what a fucking odd couple they make. No wonder there's slash about them. Everything about their interactions is fascinating, and so, so well executed. I love them both. Bonus points for Mace's Manpology to Capa at the beginning of the film. Best Manpology ever, and template for all their interactions from then on in.
IS THIS MACE BEING META?
Then we have the Pinbacker thing. So sue me, I kind of like the Pinbacker thing. Mace, again, is the reason why. He's so pragmatic, but it's not just his sensible, down-to-earth approach to the mission, it's the fact that Mace, at some point in the first act, seems to go meta on your ass. First, he realises. like the audience does, before anyone else does, that they are truly fucked, they are not going back, this is a one-way mission into the sun. It's like he's seen this kind of movie before, and he knows it will end horribly, his only concern from then on in, is to succeed in launching the payload. His reaction to Pinbacker's message has the same tone to it, does anyone know what this is about, because this isn't the movie I signed up for, this is one of those movies where the captain goes space crazy and kills everyone on board. Mace's meta takes a direct tone when he addresses Capa back on the Icarus 2, "What are you trying to remind us of, our lost humanity?" Give me a fucking break, man. See, the way I see it, the story of what happened on the Icarus 1, the loneliness of deep space, the whacked out captain seeing God, the lost humanity and the inevitable horrible deaths, that story is a movie we've all seen before, it's exactly the story we were expecting from the outset, and in a way, Mace is us, he's braced himself for that outcome too, it just happens to play out in a completely unexpected way. That movie we were expecting has already happened on a different ship, and now it's attacking this movie, and, well... everyone dies anyway. I love it.
Am I overthinking Sunshine? Probably, I do have that tendency, but man, I think it's a classic. I think it's a must see sci-fi film for anyone who even vaguely knows sci-fi films.
Also, Chris Evans is in it. Chris Evans is hot.
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Date: 2014-04-16 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-16 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-16 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-16 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-16 07:16 pm (UTC)Also, I have seen very few movies that portray the danger of space so well. The kinetic roar and danger of the sun, the icy death of space, the scarcity of precious oxygen (and the way they symbolize how precious it is by representing it with a riotously green garden of Eden - color again), and the agonizing life-and-death choices everyone has to make.
And I hadn't thought about the characterization till you said it, but you're right, it's SO well-done too, all the weird little touches to each character that make them distinct but are just thrown out there in exactly the way we get to know a person in real life, never the whole story, just these odd little bits.
And the playing with the horror movie tropes, you are SO right. In a way that may have been its downfall, people expecting a horror movie and having every trope subverted may have Not Gotten It enough to give it bad reviews.
Also, I LOVE the way they film Pinbacker, as if he's radiating with heat, as if, like the sun, he's too painful to look directly at. It saves him from being a special effect monster and turns him into a symbol.
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Date: 2014-04-16 07:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-16 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-16 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-16 08:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-16 07:26 pm (UTC)I think the non-characterisation was my favourite part, really, I kind of cringed when Mace had to talk to the doctor, because I really did expect some cheap backstory on him like you often get in these kinds of movies, and then it was just cut off like that and I realised it wasn't going to be like other movies. I thought it was awesome.