Friday, July 27, 2007

Sunshine

I caught an early morning showing of Sunshine at an area AMC Theatres and was pleasantly suprised to find out about their "AM Cinema" discount, which I guess is a true "matinee" (French for 'morning'). It's $4-6 depending on location; mine was $5 which is pretty darn good for DC! Anyways, onto the review...

Sunshine is classic sci-fi filmmaking at its absolute best. It's been a while since I've seen a pure sci-fi film, esp. one that is set in space. The visuals of the sun and Icarus I & II spacecraft were mesmerizing. Icarus is a fitting name, too, in reference to the Greek mythology. I think there's a depiction of Icarus on the giant solar shield as Icarus II approaches the sun. The story takes place in the not-too-distant future where our sun has started dying.

In a desperate attempt to save Earth, Icarus I is launched to send a nuclear-type device straight into the center of the sun, in order to jump-start it back to life. However, the mission is a failure and the crew never returns home. Seven years later, Earth has gathered enough material to create a second payload and assembles a new, internationally diverse team to carry out the same mission aboard Icarus II. During this mission, mysterious events occur which puts everything in jeopardy once again...

The ensemble cast was equally powerful. Chris Evans (from the Fantastic Four series) was surprising as the reluctant, but brave pilot. Rose Byrne (Damages) and Michelle Yeoh were the voices of compassion and reason among the elevated testosterone levels aboard the ship. And Cillian Murphy was impressive as the physicist.

Sunshine should definitely not be missed by any die-hard sci-fi fanatics!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good for people to know.