Force Fed Films: Sunshine (2007)

We are doing Force Fed Films a bit early this week. So Jim gave me the pleasure of giving me another Sci-Fi movie. And from the short description he gave me, I was totally excited for "Sunshine". I am just hoping that this movie stays somewhat scientifically accurate and nothing like Event Horizon. See the full details after the jump.
Our sun is dying, no it won’t blow up on December 21, 2012, but within a few billion years. A group of scientist and astronauts are sent to reignite the Sun with a massive stellar bomb. Later do we find out, that this is actually the second attempt to do so. The first one was an utter failure, obviously. As the crew approaches Mercury, they discover Icarus 1’s (first attempt) distress signal. This leaves them with a decision, do they go and salvage what they can from Icarus 1 and have a second bomb or do they go to the sun and carry on the mission?
The neat thing about this movie is that this isn’t an action movie, it is more a psychological movie. We see how the crew of Icarus 2 go through as they start making some tough decisions. Some go crazy, others get angry at each other. Another minor thing I adored in this movie is the visuals. The Sun looks fabulous and all the space shots are glorious. It is only second to 2001: Space Odyssey to how amazing this movie looks.

Amazing CGI, it's the 'bright' point of the movie.

Though a few things did bug me, first off. I know the following annoyances I have are there in the movie just for the plot. First off, our Sun would grow to a Red Giant; growing bigger than the orbit of Earth before it would start to dim down. Secondly, are they seriously using a relatively small bomb to reignite the Sun? The resources they would need to keep fission going for another 10 years is beyond what our Earth has. Again, these were just minor annoyances, and I really didn't care all that much that science was pushed aside for entertainment. Mainly ‘cause this is a movie and not a documentary.
What I seriously found annoying was how this movie turned from this neat thriller into a slasher filmed near the end of the movie. And the slasher part wasn’t even all the interesting, it was boring and fairly generic. And talking about generic, this movie is filled with mundane acting, a predictable slasher sequence and uninspiring characters. Everything that has happened in this movie has already been done, there are very few scenes that stands out.

But still I enjoyed the film, for only one thing carried this movie on, the suspense. Disregard everything else I said about Sunshine, they create a tension that just builds throughout the movie (besides the slasher scenes). At every moment I was on the edge of my seat grasping what will happen next. Kudos on the director for carrying and building on a great story.
Oh and lastly, one of my favourite things about this movie is the cool flash scenes. Not sure how to describe you it, but I’ll try. There is a part of the movie where it all goes dark and they use flashlights to navigate. Whenever the light beam goes over the camera and it just goes white. A short glimpse of what appears to be a thermal image of people’s faces. Whenever it occurred it lasted no more than a tenth of a second and got me scratching my head if I actually saw it or imagined it. The more it happened the more I realize it was the movie playing tricks on my brain. It did creep me out whenever it appeared.
To end off, this movie is fairly generic and follows most survival movie cliché's. But it didn’t deter me away from this movie, though it didn’t help to keep my attention. The suspence really is top notch and kept my eyes glued to the TV. I don’t think this is a must watch movie, but it sure is a cool one to see. Mainly for the eye candy.