There is some bad science in this good sci-fi.
I don't get very angry at nonsense science in sci-fi, but I do get the slight sense that something went a bit wrong when I can see something wrong with your physics. I got a D in GCSE physics, for reference. I can still tell you that the Sun's gravity is not strong enough to distort space-time, the only thing with gravity strong enough for that is a black hole.
What I do want to talk about is the fact that this film DEFINITELY ripped off an episode of Courage The Cowardly Dog that has nearly the exact same plot. No, I'm not joking, it was called Mission To The Sun and it came out several years before this. More than that, I looked it up and I seem to be the only person on the entire internet who's noticed this.
That said, you most definitely wouldn't get the same experience with the two. If anything, this feels like Danny Boyle and Alex Garland saw that episode and decided to play it straight and serious. And if they would ever like to team up again in the future, I'd be more than happy to check whatever they make out, because after The Beach was...eh?, and 28 Days Later was really good, this was absolutely fantastic. They just kept getting better.
I do think there's quite a bit of room for improvement though, but we'll get to that. Something that doesn't leave room for improvement in this is the acting. Start to finish, every single performance in this is brilliant, and if Cillian Murphy would like to keep working with Danny Boyle too, I'd be A-okay with that.
The narrative and symbolism in this script is easily the most interesting I've ever seen from Alex Garland (although I haven't seen Ex Machina or Men yet), and Danny Boyle took that script and made it even better when filming it. The lighting, the cinematography, and the production design are all jaw-dropping, and the fact that all this was made for just $40 million is beyond ludicrous.
Oh, and of course that score is absolutely gorgeous. You already know that.
However...I have a lot of praise for this, but the ending does go off the rails a bit. I don't have a problem with the villain in concept, and I absolutely adore how he's presented, but something about him does feel a little half-baked. Supposedly, the film was originally going to be a lot more existential, and all the characters would have their faiths tested by the mission and could have been going insane, etc etc...
And I really wish they had stuck to their guns and done that because not only would the villain feel more natural in that scenario, what with him babbling on about how God was speaking to him, but it would also make the other characters a lot more interesting too.
As it is, they're not entirely flat and indistinct from each other, but they really don't do or say a whole lot that lets the audience have any deep understanding of them, so it's screaming "missed opportunity" at me.
And I mean a huuuuge one. If they had just gone that extra step, then I really do think we could have had a masterpiece to rival 2001 for existential and slightly abstract sci-fi.
As it is, it's still damn good though, and it seems to be one of Danny Boyle's least talked about films, which really is a shame. So if you've also been finding yourself cursing the sun recently for being too hot, give this a watch and you might just appreciate it a little more.
I don't get very angry at nonsense science in sci-fi, but I do get the slight sense that something went a bit wrong when I can see something wrong with your physics. I got a D in GCSE physics, for reference. I can still tell you that the Sun's gravity is not strong enough to distort space-time, the only thing with gravity strong enough for that is a black hole.
What I do want to talk about is the fact that this film DEFINITELY ripped off an episode of Courage The Cowardly Dog that has nearly the exact same plot. No, I'm not joking, it was called Mission To The Sun and it came out several years before this. More than that, I looked it up and I seem to be the only person on the entire internet who's noticed this.
That said, you most definitely wouldn't get the same experience with the two. If anything, this feels like Danny Boyle and Alex Garland saw that episode and decided to play it straight and serious. And if they would ever like to team up again in the future, I'd be more than happy to check whatever they make out, because after The Beach was...eh?, and 28 Days Later was really good, this was absolutely fantastic. They just kept getting better.
I do think there's quite a bit of room for improvement though, but we'll get to that. Something that doesn't leave room for improvement in this is the acting. Start to finish, every single performance in this is brilliant, and if Cillian Murphy would like to keep working with Danny Boyle too, I'd be A-okay with that.
The narrative and symbolism in this script is easily the most interesting I've ever seen from Alex Garland (although I haven't seen Ex Machina or Men yet), and Danny Boyle took that script and made it even better when filming it. The lighting, the cinematography, and the production design are all jaw-dropping, and the fact that all this was made for just $40 million is beyond ludicrous.
Oh, and of course that score is absolutely gorgeous. You already know that.
However...I have a lot of praise for this, but the ending does go off the rails a bit. I don't have a problem with the villain in concept, and I absolutely adore how he's presented, but something about him does feel a little half-baked. Supposedly, the film was originally going to be a lot more existential, and all the characters would have their faiths tested by the mission and could have been going insane, etc etc...
And I really wish they had stuck to their guns and done that because not only would the villain feel more natural in that scenario, what with him babbling on about how God was speaking to him, but it would also make the other characters a lot more interesting too.
As it is, they're not entirely flat and indistinct from each other, but they really don't do or say a whole lot that lets the audience have any deep understanding of them, so it's screaming "missed opportunity" at me.
And I mean a huuuuge one. If they had just gone that extra step, then I really do think we could have had a masterpiece to rival 2001 for existential and slightly abstract sci-fi.
As it is, it's still damn good though, and it seems to be one of Danny Boyle's least talked about films, which really is a shame. So if you've also been finding yourself cursing the sun recently for being too hot, give this a watch and you might just appreciate it a little more.