Sunshine: Point / Counterpoint

The debate is on for Danny Boyle's 2007 film Sunshine. I didn't go to this when it premiered at the LA festival because a. I wasn't getting a free pass, b. it seemed a little too much like The Core, with an even more impossible task, and c. people were harsh on it. Now I can understand why people were so harsh, but I love it.

To me, this is a bold project that has a lot of things that could go wrong. Chris Evans is the heroic one, and I wouldn't trust him to save anything besides the keg at a Phi Kap parity, let alone Kim Basinger on a cell phone.... or in this case, humanity. He's no match for the great Cillian Murphy. But this strange crew mixes, and when they don't, it makes for intrigue. Their mission seems more than impossible, and they know it. But will that drive them? Can they get through the idea that they don't matter, and yet, are the only thing that matters?

This film has touches of great sci-fi thought like 2001 or Solaris, but it also has a basic story and action. Does it all mix? I think so. But you might say not.

I would like to print a respone from my friend Paul, who didn't like it:

"Here's why Sunshine didn't work. It had no idea whether it wanted to be a 2001/Solaris type sci fi with trippy, headache inducing brilliance and awesome effects. It didn't even decide if it wanted to be pure Alien style rock-em-sock-em horror or cult favorite Event Horizon. Instead, it was a confused mix of improbable and implausible headache inducing boredom. The scenes of conflict were boring, I didn't care about the characters and knew what was going to happen from the first few frames. Danny Boyle really let me down for the first time around."

Good points by Paul. Anyone else want to weigh in?