Review of Sunshine..
After having lunch me and a couple other people decided to go catch a movie. But we were unsure of what to watch as we're anxiously waiting for the wave of blockbusters to hit us in the head come May. Then I pointed to the Sunshine poster and said, "What about that one?". Then it brought back memories of the last time I said that.. and my friends and I ended up watching House of the Dead.. to which I still feel like I owe them the price they paid for the movie tickets, their sanity and more -_-;
But hey, Sunshine is directed by Danny Boyle and stars Cillian Murphy so it can't be horrible... right?? Right! Far from it.. But I must say this is one of those movies that is even better to watch the less you know about it other than the fact that it is about a team of astronauts on a mission to revive the dying sun.. and it was directed by the same person who did 28 Days Later and Trainspotting.. and it stars Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada and the fire guy from Fantastic 4.
What surprised me the most is how gorgeous the movie looked. From the opening scene where a crew of Icarus II was sun-gazing in the observation room we are already wowed by the special effects. And the wowing continues pretty much throughout as the special effects and sound effects are top notch. I think I'll never look at the sun the same way again after watching this. The mood of the whole movie is bleak but the sun's dying and so is humanity so it makes sense that everyone isn't in a jolly mood. The hopelessness/loneliness mood is similar to 28 Days Later and to some extent, Children of Men.
But even so all the aestetics didn't distract from the interactions and relationships that the crew members, who are literally the last hope of man-kind, had with each other and before long you too will care enough for (most of) them that you don't want anything to happen to them. I'm also pleasantly surprised at the role Hiroyuki Sanada played in the movie. He was the captain of the mission and what a fine captain he was! lol. Which made me suspect that this can't be a Hollywood production because after his role in The Last Samurai I was expecting them to type-cast him as another in-the-background silent asssassin or rather in his next role. Not only was he an authoritative leader but they didn't even tell him to speak with an over-exaggerated Japanese accent. Michelle Yeoh also did well but she reminded me too much of Sun from the Lost series with all her gardening and "I-love-nature" antics.
Towards the end though after the big twist things went to a different route and it changed to something out of a slasher movie. I don't really enjoy those but it was acceptable in this movie because 1. it wasn't long and was not the central theme of the movie 2. too late, you already started to care about the characters by that time to tune out of what's happening.
A pretty bleak movie but the visuals are stunning and will stay with you long after the film is over. Better to watch on the big screen..
Rating: 7.5/10
But hey, Sunshine is directed by Danny Boyle and stars Cillian Murphy so it can't be horrible... right?? Right! Far from it.. But I must say this is one of those movies that is even better to watch the less you know about it other than the fact that it is about a team of astronauts on a mission to revive the dying sun.. and it was directed by the same person who did 28 Days Later and Trainspotting.. and it stars Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada and the fire guy from Fantastic 4.
What surprised me the most is how gorgeous the movie looked. From the opening scene where a crew of Icarus II was sun-gazing in the observation room we are already wowed by the special effects. And the wowing continues pretty much throughout as the special effects and sound effects are top notch. I think I'll never look at the sun the same way again after watching this. The mood of the whole movie is bleak but the sun's dying and so is humanity so it makes sense that everyone isn't in a jolly mood. The hopelessness/loneliness mood is similar to 28 Days Later and to some extent, Children of Men.
But even so all the aestetics didn't distract from the interactions and relationships that the crew members, who are literally the last hope of man-kind, had with each other and before long you too will care enough for (most of) them that you don't want anything to happen to them. I'm also pleasantly surprised at the role Hiroyuki Sanada played in the movie. He was the captain of the mission and what a fine captain he was! lol. Which made me suspect that this can't be a Hollywood production because after his role in The Last Samurai I was expecting them to type-cast him as another in-the-background silent asssassin or rather in his next role. Not only was he an authoritative leader but they didn't even tell him to speak with an over-exaggerated Japanese accent. Michelle Yeoh also did well but she reminded me too much of Sun from the Lost series with all her gardening and "I-love-nature" antics.
Towards the end though after the big twist things went to a different route and it changed to something out of a slasher movie. I don't really enjoy those but it was acceptable in this movie because 1. it wasn't long and was not the central theme of the movie 2. too late, you already started to care about the characters by that time to tune out of what's happening.
A pretty bleak movie but the visuals are stunning and will stay with you long after the film is over. Better to watch on the big screen..
Rating: 7.5/10