Sunshine (2007 film)
Summary
"50 years in the future, Earth's Sun is dying. If the Sun dies, so do we." A team of international astronauts are sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun with a nuclear fission bomb in 2057.
Details
- Release Date: 2007
- Country/Language: US/US, English
- Genres/Technical: Science Fiction, Horror, Thriller
- Runtime: 1 hr 47 min
- Starring: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans
- Director: Danny Boyle
- Writer: Alex Garland
- Producer/Production Co: DNA Films, Ingenious Film Partners, Moving Picture Company (MPC)
- View Trailer: (link)
Ratings
MPAA Ratings
- Rated: R (Violence, Profanity)
Tentacle Ratings
A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:
- S____ (One Tentacle: Debateably Lovecraftian; has almost no direct connection to Lovecraft's work)
Similar to Event Horizon (1997 film) and Alien (1979 franchise), this is a sort of Gothic haunted-house-in-space story; in this case, the main plot is said to be suspiciously similar to Clark Ashton Smith's short story "Phoenix".
Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.
Reviews
Review Links:
- Robert Brodmerkel at The Horror Review (link) - "Early in the film one character jokingly refers to alien body count movies but, even when Sunshine becomes a pure genre flick, it never lapses into routine. Obscuring the central menace visually and maintaining a degree of ambiguity about whether the events of the final reels are even really happening, Boyle stages a denouement that plays like the film Event Horizon should have been."
- Roger Ebert at Roger Ebertdotcom (3 Stars) (link) - "The drummed-up suspense at the end is not essential, since Boyle and Garland seem more interested in the metaphysics of the voyage... ...science-fiction fans will like it, and also brainiacs, and those who sometimes look at the sky and think, man, there's a lot going on up there, and we can't even define precisely what a soliton is."
- Richard Scheib at the Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review (3/5 Stars) (link) - "...Boyle and Garland do an impressive job at setting Sunshine up as a hard science-fiction film, the results end up disappointing. ... The most disappointing part of Sunshine is the direction the plot takes in the last third. Here Alex Garland veers off from a promising hard science plot into the tired and hackneyed. ... The whole Pinbacker element – where...the inability on Alex Garland’s part to tell us what is going on during these sections is sloppy writing."
Synopsis
Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)
In the not-too-distant future, Earth's dying sun spells the end for humanity. In a last-ditch effort to save the planet, a crew of eight men and women ventures into space with a device that could revive the star. However, an accident, a grave mistake and a distress beacon from a long-lost spaceship throw the crew and its desperate mission into a tailspin.
Notes
Comments, Trivia, Dedication
Associated Mythos Elements
- TO DO
- setting: Cthulhu Icarus
