Sunshine

Watch it.









Are you looking for more?

That's all I have to say. Watch it. As soon as possible.







Ok, fine.

There may be very loose "expectation setting" type spoilers, nothing plot related though.

It's an interesting movie, because the reception it's received is two sided. On one hand, people like myself love the movie. On the other hand, people hate the movie. There's one specific event in this movie that causes such a divergence in mass opinion, and interestingly enough I think both sides of the argument sort of feel for the other side on some level.



Allow me to explain. At some point towards the end of the movie, there's a drastic change from incredible A list science fiction (think 2001, Bladerunner, etc) to C list horror/action (think... I don't even know, I avoid those kinds of movies like the plague). The interesting thing is that both parties on both sides of the coin recognize this fault, and some simply accept it but lament the fact that it sullies what otherwise would've been one of the premier science fiction movies ever. The other side resents the fact that a good movie was ruined with a horrendous ending.



I think the movie is still really good, despite the ending which in my opinion brings it DOWN to "really good" status, from legendary or awe-inspiring (which many of the visuals in the movie are) or what have you.

However, after watching the commentary included by the scientific consultant on the movie, a lot of light was shed on the ending part which I'd rashly dismissed as being junk and fluff that I didn't even bother to pay close attention. This includes a final scene I'd previously thought was ridiculously stupid, which I now see as an incredibly beautiful scene that reflects the battle that the whole movie represents, nature vs. science.



The scene is not only stunning visually, but does a fantastic job of framing the story around this core struggle. The critics of the ending of the movie criticize it as not finishing the movie in classic sci-fi fashion... ie. leaving you thinking and giving you few answers. I think that some of the beauty of a large part of the movie, but especially elements in the ending (now having been explained in depth by the commentary) do just that, they open up a forum for discussion about where mankind is heading on different levels, technologically, spiritually, etc.

Overall I think watching it the second and third (and fourth and fifth) times really helped me get more out of the movie than watching it the first time, having heard of the 'different' ending, and having had a preconception that let a lot of things slip from the movie. The commentary was amazing and provided great insight, and really I found that a great deal about the Solaris commentary as well (possibly my favourite sci-fi movie), so while I think commentaries in general are fairly worthless, I think it's pretty worthwhile on these "make you think" kind of movies, because oft times they bring up things you may have missed.

I hope that my divulgence of a subpar ending or whatever doesn't ruin the experience for anything, but by this point I think anyone that would've been interested in seeing it would've most likely seen it, and if anything I think if anything my post here may make people pay even more attention to the ending than they would have otherwise.

There are very few really good sci-fi movies out there, and while this one COULD'VE been among the greats like 2001: Space Odyssey, Bladerunner, Solaris, etc. but I think this movie definitely makes it as close to those as any other movie of the genre, and is definitely worth seeing even if you're not into sci-fi, the visuals of the sun are simply stunning.

On a side note, Fox... put Solaris on blu-ray already.