Sunshine

Ah.. it's so nice to have a decent sci-fi flick. Sunshine is a deceptively cheerful name for a fairly dark movie. Basic storyline: ship departs earth and travels to the sun in order to reignite it. Ship runs into an earlier ship which went MIA on the previous mission. Creepy things happen to ship. Bloodfest. Ship completes/fails her mission (heh, I wouldn't want to spoil your fun by telling you the ending.

The director, Danny Boyle, did other dark sci-fi-ish movies like '28 Days Later'. He handles this movie pretty well. Although it's not blockbuster material, the acting is credible and the sci-fi effects dun suck. I liked the design of the space craft and the huge sunshield thingy really feels... huge. Somewhere after abotu 2/3s into the movie, it starts to become somewhat of a survival flick. You know, the run-for-your-lives-type of movie. Of course, that's when you start guessing who is gonna live/die next.

Of course, being chinese, it's only natural to pay attention to the two asian actors in the movie. First is Hiroyuki Sanada acting as the Captain, Kaneda and second is the trying-so-hard-to-make-it-in-Hollywood Michelle Yeoh as a botanist. heh. yeah, a botanist. The two of them do a pretty good job. Hiroyuki does well as the leader of the team and Michelle Yeoh doesn't do any kicking or punching in this movie.

One way to have even more fun through this movie is to start by discussing with your friend who in the movie will live or die. Make a friendly bet and you might get a free dinner or lose one. heh.

I liked this movie and would consider going for it again. Give it a try if you are looking for a decent sci-fi movie (but dun expect big space battles and weird aliens with bulging eyes).