Sunshine, the movie

Last week, I was able to watch "Sunshine".

Define: Sunshine

Fifty years into the future, a Q-Ball cloud drifts into the sun and it is now failing, causing the Earth to freeze. A spacecraft, the Icarus with a crew of eight men and women is launched as a last hope,^[2] carrying a stellar bomb with the mass of Manhattan in order to re-ignite the sun. Seven years prior, a similar ship, the Icarus I, had been launched for the same mission, but contact was lost.^[3] When the crew of eight move toward the sun and out of radio contact with Earth, they discover the distress beacon of the ship that had been missing for seven years. After an informed decision (precided over by Capa (Cillian Murphy), the physicist who controls the bomb), the crew decides that it is best to rendezvous with the stricken vessel to attempt repairs in order to give themselves another bomb, and another chance at succeeding in their mission, should their bomb not have the desired effect.

From Wikipedia

Okay, now you know what I meant by sunshine..  I was able to watch it last week and I think it was great, though there were a lot of stuffs that I noticed regarding the movie.

As you might have noticed, its not a smashing movie with tons of great Hollywood stars, but it definitely has a catching story.  Almost similar to "The Core" movie (I also loved this one) wherein, they were trying to save a celestial element.  But here, they were trying to save the sun.

My Reaction

Unknown to some, I have poor eyesight.  My eyes are only great for noting lost semi colons and missing brackets..  Anyway, I love shades.  I never run anywhere without them.  Even the morning light can hurt my eyes.  So, the only reason I would not be wearing my shades are in times of the night and at moviehouses, of course.

Ironically, I was lead to thinking that it could have been better if I watched the movie with my shades on.  The movie, maybe as expected, displayed a lot of sun exposure, and sudden switch from brightness to darkness..  Phew!  Talk about hurting my eyes!  I think they had a great cast.  I was delighted to see different nationalities as crew members.  Some were american, japanese, etc.  Their botanist was even born in Manila!  The crew was very much like it was hand picked for the mission.  The crew was almost perfect, by the fact alone that the captain was best for his job.  Nobody questioned his authority and he leads by example.

I was astounded by the ship itself! Icarus II (following the failed Icarus I project, 7 years earlier).  The first time I saw it, I thought the design was so basic and simple, but the inside and how it was done could have been more complex.  The idea of having a "plant garden" they called the Oxygen Room to sustain a high level of oxygen and provide them with "fresh" food was brilliant!  I just knew that if ever I was watching an old sci-fi film where all crew died of suffocation, I could've said that "why on earth" did they not build a self sustaining system?!".  This was really outrageous.

Unlike 'usual' space crews, they had a psychiatrist.  The earlier project, Icarus I, had a doctor but didn't have a psychiatrist, where, Icarus II's psychiatrist won his argument that a psychiatrist is needed for long projects such as Icarus II.  The Earth Room was a section where you can simulate Earth activities as if you were in a virtual reality.  The subjects were replenished with the experience that it almost 'cured' them of homesickness instantaneously.  It felt like the whole ship was really built to care for the heroes of the future.

One of the my favorite parts of the Icarus ship was the Observatory Room.  Here, they can watch the sun at the closest possible, non-detrimental distance and display.  Icarus was able to adjust the filter of the sun's brightness.  The most beautiful experience I saw too was the exhibit of Mercury passing by the sun!  Oh, how I love this scene!  I was very happy to see this, and I think I'll take this scene to be real instead of simply imagining how it must be to see Mercury or Venus closer!  (FYI, I fancy of becoming a scientist when I was young..)

Of course, I had few rants too

Though, I loved the design of the ship, and liked how the crew members were good for their posts, I also hated a few glitches that I saw.

First, almost all of the scenes are not anti-gravitational.. meaning, they weren't floating!  The Icarus II ship, when they found it, didn't even show signs that it was stuck near the dying sun!  After 7years, the ship didn't look like it deteriorated.  And, it was found frozen, rather than nearly burned.  Hmmm… what could be an explanation??

Next, almost all of the crew members had fetishes.  True, that they were all the best for their posts, but they had the worst weakness from their own strengths.  It was foolish that the best Mathematician could've missed an angular calculation because he knew that he was the only one who can do it and did not want to share a blame if he gets mistaken.  The botanist could've wanted to throw herself into the fire to die with her plants, and the psychiatrist who can take the sunburns and skin damage just to see the sun at a closer distance; and not to mention the second captain who wanted to preserve himself rather than take care of the mission.  Even the best military mind wanted to make an exclusion for the non-astronaut member of the crew.  These 'fetishes' and pet peeves caused the greatest damage to the perfect crew members.

And, last, but not the least, the winner of all my rants… how did a zombie/superhuman/mutant.. whatever he was make it in 7years in outer space with no food at all??  And the fact of the matter, was that, he didn't grow any weaker but stronger instead!  Though it was what provided the thrill towards the end of the movie, I just thought that it was just impossible for any human to survive that kind of situation.  And, that, towards the end, there was not any possible explanation for this too.

There were a lot more of stuffs that could've deserved to be mentioned as rants but these are the winners of them all. 😄

But, in general, don't get me wrong, I loved the movie. 😉 You should try exploring the ship itself, for you to see what beautiful ship they had!