Icarus II has been on this way for 16 months when we pick up the story. Eight crew members living in a long straight tail in the middle of the back side of a mirror-lined disk that faces the relentless sun the entire trip. There are countless mirrors on the front side, and the back tail includes a full oxygen generating, food generating eco-pod. Icarus II recycles water, has all the solar energy it could possible want, and a governing computer that can be queried verbally at any time, anywhere in the ship, by any crewperson wearing their voice transmitting badge around their neck.
The main motif of the film is the human eye, in relationship to the sun. There's the similarity of form, echoed by the design of the spaceship, as well as a constant fascination with looking into the sun. The original Icarus of myth saw something no other human ever did, and paid for it with his fall. This is the central mythos of Sunshine, which along with the increasingly inconceivable heat, as the Icarus II gets closer and closer, passing Mercury, aimed straight into the heart of that huge, spinning ball of hot gas and nuclear reactions,
The actors are all good, but I particularly enjoyed seeing rising star Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Cliff Curtis and Michelle Yeoh. Byrne is a rapidly rising star, and looks great in the previews for Damages, which starts this week on FX. Glenn Close is rightfully getting all the advance press on the show, but Byrne bodes the next wave in Australian talent. Evans, ironically enough, plays the Human Torch, and having seen the recent Fantastic Four movie I knew he looked familiar but didn't recognize him at first -- not expecting him to be in such a high-tone project, but there he is, under a beard at first, plenty of depth. Cliff Curtis is a fan favorite going way back to Three Kings, and Michelle Yeoh, well...she's such an icon now, it's a pleasure to see her in a purely dramatic role. And in one moment when Murphy and Evans have a tussle, you can see her roll her eyes and think of how much more likely it would be for her to kick both their asses, were this one of the Jackie Chan movies where she did her own stunts, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or even Wing Chun.
While I've read some griping and gainsaying about a particular twist leading to the film's final act, I find some of it McKeeism gone haywire. At this point I consider director Danny Boyle an artist, because he takes chances by switching genres every time, from Shallow Grave to Trainspotting to Millions to 28 Days Later etc., learned how to keep his independence, and made accessible but intelligent flicks that leave an impression long after viewing. If I think of someone as an artist, even a pop artist, and there's this kind of question about an aspect of their work, I'm more interested in trying to tease out their intention rather than make a critical point. In this case, I think that Boyle wanted to find an extreme psychological reaction to this unprecedented situation, and believes pays off for the suspense that's been building on this particular plotline.
Maybe when you see it you'll tell me I'm wrong.
As for me, I was overwhelmed by the trajectory of Icarus II. Like all great science fiction, the concept itself is mind-expanding aspect to it, conceiving of the ramifications while witnessing it, taking up a compelling vision of how it all might work out. Our eternal human frailty, futuristic technology, amped together into our imagination.
Sunshine is a suspense machine, sequence after edge-of-seat sequence, but perhaps due to the relentlessness of the mission, of the ship's movement, into the terrible vastness of our sun through the endless vastness of outer space, there's a permeating existential quality to the movie that provides the resonance.
Heading straight into the sun...is the loneliest place in the universe.
No comments:
Post a Comment