Movie Non-Pick of the Week

Danny Boyle, you really piss me off sometimes. This is the second movie I’ve watched from you that completely falls off the rails in the third act. The first was 28 Days Later, a good little film that could have been a great little film if the third act hadn’t descended into cliché hell. Now, the same thing happens in your new sci-fi thriller, Sunshine. For about ¾ of the film’s runtime, I was completely enthralled. The visuals were stunning; the characters were interesting and it seemed to be avoiding the usual plot devices in the “group of people stuck in space” genre. The acting was great; even Chris Evans of Fantastic Four infamy showed that he can act. The movie tries very hard to bring new things to the table--and that’s where I think it goes sour. I figure the film’s writer, Alex Garland had this running through his mind: “Well, I can’t have an alien, because obviously that’s been done. I can’t have the ship’s computer go crazy, because that’s been done too. I can’t even have a crew member go crazy because that’s been done as well…hmm, I’ve got it!” And so he pretty much ruins the film with one of the dumbest contrivances I’ve ever had the misfortune of seeing. If you have no plans on seeing the movie now or on DVD, then highlight for a synopsis w/ spoilers:
The crew of Icarus II are on their way to re-ignite the sun when they pick up a distress signal from the original presumed-to-have-perished-7-years-ago Icarus I. After some debate, they (of course) decide to go investigate. They find the ship and discover most of its crew immolated from direct sun exposure. After an incident that leaves two of the ‘away’ team members dead, Cillian Murphy’s character discovers there is a stowaway on Icarus II. The stowaway turns out to be the captain of the Icarus I who has somehow survived on the ship for 7 years, parked at the Sun's doorstep. He walks around naked and looks like Freddy Krueger, because he apparently enjoys tanning more than George Hamilton. Oh and he’s also superhumanly strong and homicidal. So he proceeds to try and kill the remaining crew with some degree of success, but Murphy manages to get the device to the sun and save the world.
As I stated earlier, I was riveted to the screen for much of the film, but when they introduced that element of the story, I literally couldn’t wait for the movie to end. It just turned the movie into something else completely. All the intelligence and suspense just drained away from the film. Oh well, Boyle is obviously a gifted director. Everyone’s entitled to a misfire here and there.