Review: Sunshine

I just came back from watching Sunshine, a new movie that's only being shown in a few theatres.

The plot goes something like this: the Sun is dying prematurely because a Q-Ball is lodged deep inside it. So we sent one ship with a big bomb (it's a Hollywood movie, so bombs are practically compulsory if you want funding) that'll blow the Q-Ball apart, making our Sun all shiny again. Except that it didn't work because the Sun is still dying and all contact with the ship was lost. So we're sending a second ship with the same type of bomb. If at first you don't succeed, try try again, right?

Let me make one thing clear right now: insofar as I am concerned, this is *not* a sci-fi flick. This is out and out a horror flick with shades of sci-fi tossed in, kind of like Event Horizon. If you have no clue what Event Horizon was, good - keep it that way. As with most movies like this, the science is either minimal or merely a plot device. Surprisingly, the science in the initial premise is decent...but it goes downhill into just a plot device super-quick. The show wasn't half bad up until it starts turning into a horror flick about two-thirds of the way in. If you have to use the facilities then, don't return to the theatre. Seriously, it's better that way.

I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying that the crew get picked off one by one. You want to know how bad the writing was? There's one point when they start talking about "expendable" crewmembers and who should live and who should die. Get this: they have a communications officer (guess how important he is) but they don't have a DOCTOR. I understand that space missions of that sort will have multi-disciplinary specialists but come on! Comms officer? When they already know (and it's in the plot!) that the ship will lose contact with Earth partway through the trip?

Like with most Hollywood movies, they have some pretty well-toned crewmembers. Scientists generally don't look as fit - I'm glad their casting department didn't go for full realism there. *shudder* In short, it's rental material (but only on a decent widescreen TV). I used a movie pass so it was essentially free for me (less the snacks and drink) and I definitely wouldn't recommend paying full price to watch this one.

Okay, that ends the review bit; the touchy-feely bits start here. Here's my personal reaction: I was scared out of my wits in that movie. Being aflame is one thing but vaporization is a totally different kettle of fish. I used to be able to watch horror flicks with impunity but obviously, something has happened to me during the course of my treatment for my Condition because folks, I couldn't watch most of the death scenes. I'm talking squeeze-eyes-shut heart-thumping visceral fear. Eeep.

Other than that, I was fine. :) I may not have liked the movie, but it had truly beautiful shots of the Sun. They're probably all computer-generated but my goodness, they were gorgeous! It's funny - I've spent most of my life not looking directly at the Sun that it's pretty much instinctive now. I kept flinching away from the really bright shots of the Sun in the movie. Yes, I know I'm silly. :P

The main thing I took away from the movie is that nature is terrifyingly beautiful. I may know intellectually that the surface temperature of the Sun is around 5,800K but it's just a number to me...until I see it translated, however imperfectly, to the need for heat shielding on the ship. It's one thing for me to learn and know about sunspots...until I see just how huge those things are.

I study science and if enough things go well with my life, I hope to pass on that knowledge to other people someday. But astronomy lends itself to intellectual detachment. After all, unlike most other sciences, you can't use your senses much in astronomy - you can figure out and see the effects of gravity but you can't touch it. It's tough to do but I hope not to ever become so detached that I lose my sense of wonder. See, to me, that's a large part of what science is: wonderment at nature and the desire to figure out why.

Sunshine isn't educational but it's got pretty visuals and it reminds us that simply because something has always been there (insofar as our experience goes) doesn't mean it's not beautiful, complex and often dangerous enough to demand respect.